In this week’s episode, Love, Atlanta host Ann Hill-Bond and guests Madeline Thigpen and Rohit Malhotra examined Fulton County’s planned purchase of the Atlanta City Detention Center and the role of budgets and community accountability in Atlanta.
Madeline Thigpen is Capital B Atlanta’s criminal justice reporter. Rohit Malhotra is the founder and executive director of the Center for Civic Innovation and a candidate for Fulton County Commissioner in District 4.
Love, Atlanta airs Thursdays on WRFG from 4-5 p.m. Tune in live or listen to previous shows. The radio show is recorded and produced at WRFG Atlanta.
Detention Facilities
- Madeline Thigpen reported that Atlanta agreed to sell the Atlanta City Detention Center to Fulton County for $68 million after an August 31 response deadline.
- The facility opened in 1995 ahead of the 1996 Summer Olympics and currently has about 1,100 beds. Its population declined after marijuana decriminalization, pre-arrest diversion, bail reform, and the end of the ICE housing contract.
- The county operates the Rice Street facility with about 2,400 beds and plans a roughly 1,300-bed special-purpose facility costing $1.3 billion. The combined expansion would approximately double county incarceration capacity.
- The county jail remains under a consent decree following a Justice Department investigation into deaths and inhumane conditions.
- A 2019 city decision envisioned converting ACDC into the John Lewis Center for Equity and Care, with food, clothing, housing, mental health, and substance-use resources. Women on the Rise and other groups helped develop the proposal, but the planned transformation did not occur.
Equity And Policy
- Rohit Malhotra said that public policy translates morality into law and spending, and that budgets reveal whether government values match its promises.
- Malhotra said the Center for Civic Innovation monitors legislation, convenes community discussions, and uses data and direct engagement to promote accountable policy. He described the NPU system as a major but underpowered mechanism for participatory planning.
Civic Engagement
- Malhotra described nonprofits as temporary problem-solving institutions that should ideally become unnecessary when government delivers effective services at scale.
- He directed residents to atlbudget.org for Atlanta’s budget and civicatlanta.org for reporting and opportunities to engage. The central unresolved issue was how residents can connect neighborhood priorities to city and county budgeting.
