Last week, the Communities Over Cages: Close the Jail ATL Campaign met with Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. We’re excited to say our meeting at City Hall went very well, and our Mayor was genuinely enthusiastic and supportive of this transformative initiative.
But as some say, the devil is in the details and as we say: the success is in the process.
A community-led Design Team process is what ensures that the people of Atlanta, not corporate interests, determine what happens with the building and the funds. The transformation of the extra city jail into a Center for Wellness and Freedom is not just another development deal. It is an act of redemption. And redemption demands that the people most harmed by this jail are the ones to guide its transformation through a transparent, community-led process.
So what will it take to make Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms a Woman on the Rise?
To level up from a Mayor on the Move to a Woman on the Rise, we call on Mayor Bottoms to follow through with her stated commitments and:
Support legislation creating a community-led Design Team to lead the process of repurposing the building and reallocating the funds. This process can include outside consultants or business stakeholders, but it cannot be led or controlled by those entities.
We also call on the Mayor to:
Work with City Council to make all city ordinances non-arrestable offenses because we believe in #CommunitiesOverCages, #HealthcareNotHandcuffs and #ServicesNotSentences; and
Work closely with the Atlanta Police Department to shift standard operating procedures to de-prioritize arrests for state traffic violations.
The Communities Over Cages Campaign asks you, what do you think we need in place of Atlanta's extra jail?
JOIN US at our Alliance Builder Meeting on January 29th at 3:30pm at the Center for Civic Innovation to learn more about how you and your organization can join the campaign. RSVP here.