FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — UPDATE: The press conference has concluded. It is available to be re-watched in the video player above this story.
The story of the findings and recommendations can be found below:
Original story below
A press conference Friday morning will detail findings from the long-running Georgia Senate subcommittee investigation into the conditions at the Fulton County Jail.
It's being held at 8 a.m. State Sens. John Albers (R-Roswell), chair of the Senate Public Safety Committee, and Senate Majority Whip Randy Robertson (R-Cataula) will address reporters at the press conference.
The subcommittee first met back in November 2023, and has held several hearings throughout the last year on deteriorating conditions at the jail facility.
The jail has dealt with issues including overcrowding, crumbling infrastructure and the deaths of more than two dozen inmates either at the jail or after having a medical emergency at the jail in the last two years. A U.S. Department of Justice investigation was also launched into the facility last year, the results of which have yet to be announced.
Fulton Sheriff Pat Labat has pushed for the county jail to be replaced in whole. He said the facility was "in crisis" back in April, after an inmate was stabbed to death, while Fulton County's Board of Commissioners has opted for now for renovations at the facility -- balking at a proposed $2 billion price tag for a whole new jail.
The sheriff and some Board of Commissioners members have been at odds several times in the last year over whether a lack of county support, or the sheriff's management of the facility, is more to blame.
Board of Commissioners Chairman Robb Pitts said in July that building a new jail is not possible at this time.
“If a lightbulb goes out at the jail, they say that that’s the reason that we need a brand new $2 billion jail, it is nonsense. It’s nonsense,” Pitts said.
His comments came after the facility's kitchen area had to be evacuated for a second gas leak in one week.
At the most recent Board of Commissioners meeting this week, an update was provided on the "blitz" repairs that are ongoing.
Slides presented at the meeting said the repairs are a little more than halfway complete, with six units -- or 726 cells out of 1,122 non-medical cells - rehabbed and the latest "blitz" on a seventh unit having begun on August 17.
Nine out of 11 units are expected to be completed by the end of 2024, according to the presentation, and full completion expected in January or February 2025.