A new ACLU report reveals the harms of tying pretrial release to money
A new report from the ACLU of Georgia delivers yet another grim snapshot of Fulton County Jail and the ongoing crisis of Atlanta’s pretrial system. Despite years of warnings and repeated calls for reform, the jail remains dangerously overcrowded. Those warnings have included a federal civil rights investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice, which found conditions inside the jail violated constitutional rights and federal law, citing pest infestations, malnourishment, and a serious risk of violence for people in custody.
The consequences have been deadly. Since 2021, 32 people have died in Fulton County Jail, including four in the first seven months of 2025 alone. The racial disparities are impossible to ignore. Nearly 90% of those incarcerated are Black, though Black residents make up just 43% of the county’s population.
So what’s driving this crisis, and why hasn’t it improved? The answer is cash bail. By tying pretrial release to money, Georgia keeps legally innocent people needlessly locked up for months, swells the jail population, and fuels court delay, health crises, and violence. Far from protecting public safety, cash bail is steadily eroding the legitimacy of Atlanta’s justice system.
Cash Bail, Not Public Safety, Drives Fulton County Jail Overcrowding
The ACLU’s data show that reductions in overcrowding at the Fulton County Jail were short-lived. After increased scrutiny and reform efforts, the jail population fell to 2,470 people in January 2025. By July, it had rebounded by nearly 20%, once again rising far above capacity. As the population swells, the Sheriff’s Office struggles to maintain staffing levels or make long-needed improvements to the jail’s deteriorating facilities.
Cash bail sits at the center of this population problem. Many people remain jailed not because they pose a risk, but because they cannot afford to pay for their release. As of July 1, 2025, more than a third of those in custody faced bonds below $5,000, requiring an upfront payment of $750 or less. Unable to afford this payment, many people spent 90 days or more behind bars. These are not high-risk cases or high-dollar bonds reserved for serious offenses; they are relatively low amounts that nonetheless function as insurmountable barriers for people living paycheck to paycheck.
Seventy percent of those in custody faced cash bail under $20,000, requiring $3,000 or less upfront for release – an excessive amount surpassing a month of rent and basic expenses for the average low-income household.
In practice, this means two people accused of the same conduct can face radically different outcomes: one buys their freedom, while the other remains jailed simply because they can’t pay the price tag for release. This has nothing to do with risk or guilt, yet the person who remains behind bars faces a substantially higher likelihood of losing their job, housing, family stability, and more.
In Fulton County, it also means that poverty alone can expose legally innocent people to the daily risks of living inside a deadly, dangerous jail.
Cash Bail Fuels Court Delays, Turning Backlogs into Punishment
Cash bail doesn’t just fill jails; it clogs courts. When judges jail people who could safely remain at home, the jail population swells, court dockets grow, and cases move even more slowly. What should be a short wait for trial turns into months behind bars for people who simply cannot afford release.
In 2025, the average stay in the Fulton County Jail reached 218 days, more than seven times the national average. That is seven months in jail for people who have not been convicted of a crime. During that time, people’s lives can unravel. Facing that pressure, many plead guilty just to go home, regardless of actual guilt.
The numbers grow even more troubling. Thirty-four percent of people in Fulton County Jail remain unindicted, meaning prosecutors have not formally charged them. Nearly a quarter of those individuals have spent more than 90 days in jail without ever being officially accused of a crime.
Prosecutors control when they bring charges. Judges determine whether someone waits at home or in a cell. When both allow months to pass while someone sits in jail without being charged, they turn pretrial detention into punishment before conviction. Holding someone for months without formally accusing them of a crime violates the most basic promise of due process and the presumption of innocence.
These delays don’t protect the public; they deny justice and strip away a person’s dignity.
The System Works When Money Isn’t Tied to Release
The ACLU report shows the harms of tying pretrial release to money. The Bail Project’s work in Atlanta shows what happens when it doesn’t.
Since December 2020, The Bail Project has helped secure the release of over 800 people in Fulton County who could not afford bail. We pay bail at no cost to families and provide simple support, such as court reminders and transportation, to help people return to court.
Our clients move through the same court system described in the ACLU report. They face the same delays and backlogs. The difference is that they wait at home, not in jail. Despite long case processing times, our Atlanta clients appear for 80% of their court dates, a rate that exceeds national averages. Over half ultimately have all of their charges dismissed, meaning their incarceration was entirely unnecessary. After release, many wait more than a year for substantive updates from the courts, only to learn that the state has declined to move forward with prosecution.
These outcomes are evidence that a fairer pretrial system is possible. Jail is not what drives court appearance. Money is not what ensures accountability. When people have support and stability, they return to court. When the system removes money from the equation, public safety does not collapse. Instead, fairness improves and unnecessary incarceration declines.
Alternatives to Cash Bail Exist, But Aren’t Used
A hopeful finding by the ACLU is that Fulton County has invested in pretrial services, diversion programs, and pretrial assessments that could reduce reliance on cash bail. The findings indicate that the solution is less one of build it and they will come or the lack of solutions – it’s that judges and prosecutors haven’t fully adopted them. Unlearning the reliance on cash bail requires updating policies, reviewing data, and educating court stakeholders on how to utilize alternatives effectively.
Until this advocacy takes hold, Fulton County is stuck in a loop that defaults to wealth-based detention, wasting both resources and human potential. Detaining Bail Project clients whose cases were later dropped cost an estimated $1.7 million in jail expenses alone. That money could have improved jail conditions, expanded pretrial services, or supported housing, treatment, and employment programs that stabilize people upon release.
Moving Toward a Fairer, Safer Pretrial System
Fulton County doesn’t need more jails, bigger budgets, or tougher policies. It needs a system that works to prevent justice system involvement in the first place, not one that punishes poverty. Evidence-based alternatives exist, and organizations like The Bail Project show that people return to court when money isn’t the gatekeeper.
The steps to progress are clear: stop relying on cash bail, fully implement and expand the alternatives already in place, and hold judges and prosecutors accountable to ensure pretrial detention remains temporary – not punishment. Cash bail isn’t making us safer; it’s weakening our justice system and eroding public trust in it.
Thank you for reading. The Bail Project is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that is only able to provide direct services and sustain systems change work through donations from people like you. If you found value in this article, please consider supporting our work today.
