Statement on Mayor Bottoms’ decision to pursue the sale of the Atlanta City Detention Center
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms' announcement to explore the sale and repurposing of the Atlanta City Detention Center (ACDC) demonstrates her continued commitment to criminal justice issues, particularly the illegal and unnecessary detention of immigrants by federal authorities.
In doing so, she answered the calls for reform from a broad coalition of community groups and the advisory council she convened on the future of ACDC.
Now it is time for Atlanta to join the ranks of cities across the globe converting prisons into structures that better serve their residents.
We should reject any future use for ACDC that involves incarceration. As other cities have shown, there are a number of possibilities: a homeless shelter, rehabilitation center, music school, and movie studios have all sprung up where prisons once stood.
