Fulton jail is dangerous, needs replacing
I do not understand former Commissioner John Eaves’ claims that a new Fulton County jail is a bad investment (“Fulton County doesn’t need a new jail. Here’s why it’s a bad investment,” AJC.com). His argument against building a new jail relies on a classic red herring: It reframes the debate as jail versus community investment, when the county urgently needs both. Calling for better mental health care, housing and social services is valid and necessary — but it does not logically follow that a new jail is a bad investment.
The current Fulton County Jail is not merely outdated; it is dangerously unfit for human habitation. Conditions are so severe that the U.S. Department of Justice placed the county under a federal consent decree. Dozens of incarcerated people have died due to the unsafe conditions of the building. Not only are people dying, but staff are unsafe, turnover is high, and conditions are miserable for everyone. Pretending that community investment alone can fix a structurally failing facility ignores this legal and moral reality.
Improving social services may reduce incarceration over time. Fulton County has a legal obligation to provide safe, constitutional conditions for those in its custody, regardless of broader policy goals. I am disappointed that a former county commission chair doesn’t see that, and hope that the current county commission chair does.
It is shameful that the city of Atlanta leaders and Fulton County commissioners are investing $1.9 billion for Gulch redevelopment incentives when the estimated cost of the new Fulton County jail is also $1.9 billion. Are entertainment districts important? Not compared to people’s lives.
PATTY DURAND, ATLANTA
President will be judged on reality not false hopes
“There is no worse mistake in public leadership than to hold out false hopes soon to be swept away,” British Prime Minister Winston Churchill once warned.
People can endure hardship, he said, but they bitterly resent being deceived — especially when those entrusted with the public good are living in a fool’s paradise.
Those words echo loudly today.
President (Donald) Trump’s nationwide address on Wednesday evening strained credulity. It leaned heavily on assertion and spectacle, asking the public to suspend what they see with their own eyes. He claimed gas prices averaged $1.99 a gallon. Yet on Thursday morning, like other Georgians, I paid closer to $2.77. Facts have a stubborn way of interrupting fantasy. Last night, the president sounded like an old man yelling at kids to get off the lawn.
Churchill understood something timeless about democratic leadership: Trust is not built on machismo, but on truth. Which is why another line attributed to him lingers: “I no longer listen to what people say; I watch what they do. Behavior never lies.”
Trump’s words may rally a crowd for a night. Reality speaks every morning at the pump, the grocery store and the kitchen table. It is there — unadorned and unyielding — where Trump’s leadership will be judged.
PHILBERT SMITH, VILLA RICA
Trump hits new low with Reiner post
Most of us have given up on expecting presidential dignity from Donald Trump, but his recent reaction to the murder of Rob Reiner (“Trump attacks Reiner in post,” Dec. 16) marks a new low.
Attributing Reiner’s death to “Trump Derangement Syndrome” is not only cruel but bizarre and delusional. It is time for the president’s enablers and supporters to ponder a simpler phrase: “Trump’s Derangement.”
JOHN SITTER, ATLANTA
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