ATLANTA — Editor's note: The video above is from a previous version of the story.
A new jail in Fulton County is one step closer to actuality Wednesday. Well, sort of.
Fulton County Commissioners approved a plan to discuss the possibility of how they would pay for the jail but tabled a vote to create a fund to offset cost.
So, essentially the decision about building a new jail has been put on hold, as leaders plan to further discuss what a plan would even look like.
Also tabled was a decision on whether or not $40 million would be spent on the current jail.
County leaders are under unprecedented and increasing pressure from lawsuits and now from the Department of Justice to act now and improve the inhumane conditions at the county's jail.
The aim is to end the nightmare that is the Fulton County jail, once and for all.
Why now? One of the latest reasons is Lashawn Thompson.
No one has spoken out more powerfully for immediate change than the late Lashawn Thompson-- through his family.
Thompson died in an unsanitary cell filled with bedbugs, while suffering an untreated mental illness-- a victim of inhumane conditions, according to his family and their attorney, Michael Harper of Atlanta.
“They put that man in that cell, and left him there to die!” Harper said at a news conference in April.
The quick fix would be to spend $40 million more on the current jail, simply to hold it together over the next few years. The money would come from a property tax hike that will be considered later this month.
A long-term fix would be to spend an estimated $1.7 billion to build a new jail by the end of the decade. Funding sources are under discussion and might include a sales tax hike.
“It’s less about saving the cost,” Labat said. “And (more about) building the right facility. We need a replacement facility that focuses on mental health, and that focuses on re-entry. And treating people as they need to be treated the moment they hit the door and they come in... It is my job as sheriff to present to our community what we need, to treat people in a humane fashion.”
Commissioners continue to face ongoing lawsuits, as well as a new federal investigation announced in July into unconstitutional conditions at the jail, as the county prepares to build the new jail.