Strategic Security Corp. is severing its relationship with Fulton County Jail and will no longer provide security services for the much embattled detention facility, aka Rice Street in Atlanta.
“Despite multiple efforts to resolve the situation, including numerous emails, phone calls, meetings, and notices to various offices including the sheriff’s office, the Mayor of Atlanta’s Office, the County Commissioner’s Office, and even the Governor’s Office, no viable solution has been proposed by the responsible parties,” the company said in a statement. “Regrettably, no timeline for payment or good faith attempt to address the outstanding balance has been made.”
The company said because it is withdrawing all security services to the jail, the “action is taken with a heavy heart, as it creates a potential officer safety issue and crisis at the facility.”
“We sincerely hope that a resolution can be reached swiftly to avoid any further disruptions or risks to security at the Fulton County Jail,” the company said. “Strategic Security Corp. remains open to dialogue and cooperation in order to find a mutually acceptable solution to this challenging situation.”
Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat admitted in a press conference following the SSC’s decision to discontinue services that his office had not paid the company in three months and had racked up about $1 million in outstanding payments.
“Contractually, we will get there, but we weren’t going to be able to get there as quickly as they wanted,” he said.
Labat went on to criticize SSC for its abruptness in ending the agreement with his office and putting jail personnel at risk by advising their 80 employees to abandon their posts immediately on Thursday, Aug. 29. Labat added that the jail hired more than 50 percent of the former SSC guards back with a 10 percent increase in pay.
“During negotiations today, they actually told their people to abandon their post, and I found that disingenuous,” Labat said.
Over the past year the Fulton County Jail has been the subject of multiple investigations and accusations of neglect and dysfunction, and has been charged in several criminal cases for inmate deaths at the facility.
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