The following field note features an excerpt from a grant proposal collaboratively developed by organizers and organizations (including myself) previously engaged in the Movement for Black Lives’ Freedom Summer 2020 national campaign. Drawing from our collective experiences and research, this excerpt details our understanding of the successes, setbacks, and ongoing challenges in the city’s decarcerating efforts since Freedom Summer 2020.

“Project Background: Atlanta, Georgia 

Since M4BL Freedom Summer 2020, the movement to decarcerate Atlanta has faced mixed results. Yet, grassroots organizers have managed to achieve great success these past four years. For instance, three incumbent Atlanta City Council members have since been ousted by progressives Jason Dozier, Antonio Lewis, and Liliana Bakhtari. The Atlanta Police Department (APD) must now report instances of force publicly. City residents may now access the Policing Alternatives and Diversion Initiative’s (PAD) ATL311 non-emergency service line to seek assistance for quality-of-life issues. And, this past year Fulton County officials inaugurated Atlanta’s first 24/7 Center for Diversion and Services, which will offer care to individuals facing homelessness, mental health issues, substance use disorder, and poverty.

However, amid these successes remains a landscape fraught with corruption and regressive policies at the city and county level. Though current Mayor Andre Dickens backed his predecessor’s legislation to close the Atlanta City Detention Center (ACDC) in 2019, he has now reversed course – agreeing to lease 700 beds to the Fulton County jail. Dickens has additionally pioneered the expansion of the police state, installing hundreds of new surveillance cameras, expanding funding for APD, and facilitating the construction of a new militarized tactical police training city, now known internationally as ‘Cop City.’ 

This past week, Mayor Dickens and APD Darin Schierbaum are waging a “violent crime reduction” press tour to legitimize their requests for additional law enforcement resources. Meanwhile, APD is already more well resourced than 3 out of 4 other departments around the country and violent crime has been on decline in the city for over a year. 

The continued expansion of the carceral state is severely disproportionate to Black folks in our city. Black Atlantans account for 90% of arrests made by the Atlanta Police Department (APD) and are nearly 15 times more likely to be arrested for minor, “low-level,” and “non-violent” offenses compared to white residents. According to The Police Scorecard, APD reports more instances of excessive force and police killings than seven out of ten other departments. And almost 9 in 10 of those killed by the APD are Black.

Lastly, the Fulton County jail is currently under state and federal investigation for increasing violence, overcrowding, excessive force, untreated mental illness, and poor sanitation among inmates. Amidst this crisis, investigations have revealed a misappropriation of funds, including misuse of hundreds of thousands of dollars on non-inmate welfare items like staff gift cards and community event entertainments. As a result, Fulton County officials have proposed a two-billion-dollar replacement facility, which would triple the size of the current facility, dramatically increasing the scope of mass incarceration in our city.”