Protesters demand Atlanta city jail be shut down

ATLANTA — A group of women are marching Wednesday to demand that the Atlanta City Detention Center be shut down.

Channel 2’s Tom Regan was outside the Atlanta City Hall where the group is marching to the detention center.

The organizers are formerly jailed women who have turned their lives around. They’re called Women on the Rise.

They include women who have served time at the Atlanta jail on Peachtree Street.

According to one report, the taxpayers are spending $30 million each year to maintain the jail, and over 80 percent of people held there are African American.

“The detention center, first of all, was built to hide the homeless from people coming to visit the Olympics. Since that time, they have been living off the oppression, off the backs of low-end communities where they set up roadblocks and put people in jail who can’t afford to pay to get out,” said protester Marylin Winn.

Protest organizers say it is a waste of resources and an injustice.

Protesters take to the road in caravan for change Instead of chants, there were honks as people prepared to drive around the area with signs that displayed George Floyd?s name and demands for justice.

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