Fulton Jail Floods Amid Growing Infrastructure Concerns

ATLANTA, GA — Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat is condemning the recent approval of $1 billion for a special purpose facility rather than investing the funding in a new jail.

On Wednesday, the Board of Commissioners' approval of the funding came on the day heavy rain fell into Atlanta, leading to a flood at the Fulton County Jail's Rice Street facility.

Additionally, the approved money will reportedly go toward renovations rather than replacing the jail. The special purpose facility will be used to address the medical, mental health and special needs of inmates, WXIA-TV reported.

The flooding happened on the 1 North floor that houses nearly 200 inmates, Labat said at a news conference held Wednesday night. Plumbers worked at the jail late night, and none of the inmates had to be evacuated, he said.

Authorities say the funding will not take effect until 2030, which they added delays the needs of inmates at the jail.

At the news conference, Labat called the board's vote "pennywise and a pound foolish."

Authorities have spent the last several months speaking on the crumbling conditions at the Rice Street jail, where a man died while in custody after suffering more than 1,000 bed bug bites in 2023.

"Yesterday’s vote by four members of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners (BOC) to spend a billion dollars to build a special purpose facility is the equivalent to being in a burning building and voting to design a new fire station that will not open for five years. The vote is a political game of smoke and mirrors that flies in the face of the federal consent decree," authorities said in a news release Thursday.

In at least the past year, the county jail has been hit with a gas leak and a $1 million bill for added security measures.

On Wednesday, Labat said 70 staff members have left the sheriff's office and the jail in the last month or two. He said 50-70 former staff members went to work for other agencies.

The Rice Street facility was initially design to hold single bunks; however, prior to the jail opening in 1989, authorities said there was a shift to double bunking to "accommodate the growing inmate population."

Authorities added:

"The failing infrastructure is a long-standing problem attributed to the demand put on a system far beyond its designed capacity, from the critically failing pipes that continuously burst and leak, a foundation that consistently floods when it rains, locks that do not work properly, to an outdated HVAC system that span across three federal consent decrees. ...

"The BOC’s failure to act continues to put Fulton County taxpayers at risk of spending billions of dollars on lawsuits, higher construction costs and higher taxes. This short-sighted thinking is a shining example of people who cannot, and will not, admit they were wrong. They were wrong to turn a blind eye to the need for a new jail facility. They were wrong to abandon the recommendation of experts they commissioned and paid $2 million to tell them what anyone can see for free and they are wrong for now trying to create an ultimate universe where we don’t see them attempting to build a portion of the same jail, piece by piece, without adequately addressing the needs of the current Rice Street facility. It is clear their personal agendas and political grievances are being prioritized over public safety and human dignity."

Aside from the Rice Street jail, the Fulton County Sheriff's Office also operates the Marietta Annex in Atlanta, the North Annex in Alpharetta and the South Annex in Union City.

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