Atlanta Stockade Blues

1916 — "City Officials Will Be Dined At City Prison Next Tuesday" (2/05/1916)

1917 — “‘Pesthouse’ Must Be Moved At Once, Decides Committee” (2/27/1917)

City council urges moving “smallpox detention center” as well as the city stockade.

1917 — “May Place Pesthouse In County Of Dekalb” (3/10/1917)

Current pesthouse located near Fulton Bag and Mill, near original stockade, proposed to be placed on Intrenchment Creek property owned by city (see below).

1917 — “Pesthouse In Dekalb To Bring Injunction” (3/11/1917)

City “pesthouse” proposed to be moved to Intrenchment [sic] Creek area in East Atlanta near Constitution, and citizens oppose it (it did end up being relocated there).

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1918 — "Paving Of Luckie Wins In Council" Council item (6/18/1918)

“A resolution was approved authorizing the sale of 12 dry cows from the City Dairy farm and the money realized be apportioned in the apportionment sheet under the head of general maintenance for the farm.”

1918 — Item (2/19/1918)

“Councilman Steve Johnston introduced a resolution into the city council Monday calling for a statement of the city dairy farm on Entrenchment Creek. Mr. Johnston stated he was anxious to know how much the dairy was costing or making for the city. The resolution was adopted.”

1918 — “Continue Municipal Dairy” (3/05/1918)

GIRLS HIGH SCHOOL PERIOD

1922 — “Many Want Job To Superintend At Prison Farm” (4/02/1922)

1922 — “Political And Pecuniary Motives Given As Cause For Stockade Site Plan/Vigorous Talks Made At Third Ward Meeting Assailing Proposed High School location/ Chosewood Is Scored For Land Purchases, Alderman Working For Own Benefit, Says Hartsfield—Chosewood May Answer Later” (4/02/1922)

1922 — “Murphy Urging Stockade Site For City Park” (4/19/1922)

Mayor Key favors “the removal of the prison to the dairy farm” and “was firm in his opinion Tuesday that the school (Girls High) will ultimately be placed in Grant Park.” Councilman J.C. Murphy proposed converting the (original) stockade (on/surrounding Glenwood Ave.) into a park.

1922 — "Get Started!" (10/02/1922)

📍 1922 — “First Step Taken To Change Site of City Stockade” (11/11/1922)

“A suggestion that the prison be removed to the city dairy farm in Dekalb County will be offered. Even before the stockade property was proposed for the girls’ school a strong sentiment had developed among council members in favor of housing municipal prisoners on the dairy farm and till the land with prison labor. They ran up against a legal obstacle, however, in that the city had no authority to go beyond its corporate limits to build a penal institution. At the last session of the legislature this was overcome. A bill was passed empowering the city to acquire land in Fulton County outside of the corporate limits or in any other county as the site for a prison.”

1922 — "Prison Committee To Meet Monday / Agreement To Use Stockade Site For High School Reached At Joint Meeting Held Friday" (11/11/1922)

1922 — “Stockade Site For Girls’ High Condemned After Its Advocates Leave Mass Meeting” (11/19/1922)

1924 — “Survey Started For New Location Of City Stockade” (1/31/1924)

“A survey of the city dairy farm to find a suitable location for a new city stockade, provided in the 1924 budget now awaiting Mayor Sims’ signature…”

1924 — “Library Branch And Art Museum For Prison Site” (2/24/1924)

Original stockade almost became a Carnegie Library branch and municipal art museum.  “The stockade was built at a cost of less than $25,000 under supervision of the committee headed by Councilman C.J. Vaughn, of the fourth ward. Prior to the world war and its consequent rise in prices. Stone from the city quarry and convict labor was employed, which made the cost low. It was estimated that with free labor and commercial material it would cost at least $150,000 to duplicate the structure at the present time.”

1924 — “Price Difference Halts Purchase of Landing Site” (10/15/1924) 

“250-acre city dairy farm near Constitution” once proposed for Atlanta’s airplane landing field.

1924 — Item, “City Dairy Farm At Constitution Offered For Sale” (11/18/1924)

“The city’s dairy farm, located near Constitution, Ga., probably will be sold in the near future.”

1924 — “Proposes To Build City Stockade Unit At Sanitary Shops” (11/29/1924)

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1925 — “Work On Stockade To Begin Monday” (1/28/1925)

Men’s jail to be built at Fort and Hilliard Streets. Women’s stockade will be on city dairy/prison farm until after completion on men’s building.

1925 — “Stockade Building Work Under Way [sic] On Fort Street” (2/03/1925)

“Work was started Monday on the new stockade building for men on Fort Street and the building is expected to be completed in approximately three months. Work on the woman’s [sic] stockade building on the city dairy farm probably will be started late this week.”

1925 — “Big Cabbage Crop Is Seen This Year For City Guests” (3/12/1925)

75,000 heads of cabbage to be used at city institutions. “The farm is operated by prisoners at the stockade—both men and women—and its products save the city a large sum of money annually.”

📍 1925 — “Change In City Prison Control Asked Of Solons” (6/16/1925)

“Consolidation of city prisons, stockade farms, and city dairy farm with the construction department was voted Monday by city council, and will become effective as soon as approved by the mayor.” / Legislative bodies were often referred to as "solons" at this time. 

1925 — “Stockade Prisoners Will Be Transferred To Fort St. Quarters” (9/15/1925)

1925 — “Stockade Building To Be Converted Into City School” (10/17/1925)

“….The last prisoners were transferred Friday from the old stockade. The men were taken to a new prison on Hilliard Street, near Decatur Street while the women prisoners were taken to the city dairy farm near Constitution.” 

1925 — “Council Members Forget Dignity At Melon Feast” (8/04/1925)

“The (two dozen) melons were raised by prisoners at the stockade.”

1925 — “Prison Committee Of City Council Gives Barbecue” (11/01/1925)

“Several hundred city, county and state officials and prominent Atlanta citizens enjoyed a barbecue Saturday afternoon at the city dairy farm near Constitution, Ga, which was given by the prison committee of council. Councilman Charles Chosewood, chairman of the prison committee, was chairman of the entertainment committee. A barbecue dinner was served and there were entertainment features./Mayor Walter A. Sims, William Hansell, chief of construction, and E.L. Jett, acting chief of police, were among guests. The visitors were taken on an inspection tour of the new prison building for women, which was dedicated.”

Thus began a period when city officials regularly entertained at the city prison farm.

1925 — "Constitution Gets Barbecue Treat From City Farm" (11/01/1925)

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1926 — "Prisons, Dairy Farm Now Under Streets Committee" (1/05/1926)

1926 — "Breaking Ground For Granite Marker (At Girls High School)" (1/31/1926)

1926 — “Mayor Sims Attacks Ruling By Mason On Expenditure Of City Funds On Park Site” (8/12/1926)

“Development of Candler Field, City Dairy Farm Classed With Proposed Peachtree Park Plans” 

1926 — “City Can Use Bond Funds To Move Disposal Unit, City Attorney Declares” (8/13/1926)

1926 — “Pure Bred Bull Calf Given City By Judge Candler” (12/22/1926)

1926 — “City Dairy Farm Nets Big Profit For First Time” (12/31/1926)

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1927 —  Photo Spread, "City Dairy Farm Model of Cleanliness And Efficiency" (5/22/1927) 

Full page photo feature on city prison farm, eight images. 

1927 — “Milkmaid Trio Milks and Flees City Farm Guard” (6/10/1927)

1927 — Photo spread, (10/02/1927)

Image of William A Hansell, Atlanta’s "chief of construction" and head of the city dairy farm posing with prize-winning bull, as well as a photo of hogs named after Councilman Chosewood at the Southeastern Fair.

1927 — “Officials Thanked For City’s Prize-Winning Hogs” (10/18/1927)

1927 — “Hogs From City Farm Take Prizes At Show” (10/16/1927)

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1928 — “George Brown, Sr., Makes Live Stock Donation to Farm” (2/10/1928)

Brown was “president of the Georgia Savings Bank and Trust Company, and cattle fancier,” and third ward Councilman Chosewood, and chairman of the streets committee which oversees the prison farm, secured the donation on behalf of the city. The farm, under direction of William A. Hansell, chief of construction, and Councilman Charles L. Chosewood, chairman and other members of the streets committee concur.

1928 — “Milking Machine To Be Installed At Big City Farm” (5/23/1928)

1928 — Photo spread, “Municipal Farm Is Money-Maker” (6/03/1928)

Two images. Photo caption (top L): “One of the most successful farms in the state of Georgia, and one which goes in for highly diversified products, is the city dairy farm operated under direction of the department of construction. Here are raised fine wheat and truck, blue-blooded swine, aristocratic cattle and many other remunerative farm and dairy products and stock. The accompanying pictures were made on the Atlanta dairy farm last week.”

1928 — “Clash Enlivens Political Rally” (6/05/1928)

William A. Hansell, Chief of Construction, under attack by Clarke Donaldson, “former first assistant in the construction department.” Construction department controlled prison labor for citywide projects.

1928 — “Talbot Boys Win Farmers' Title” (9/11/1928)

“The boys were the guests of the streets committee of the Atlanta City Council at noon Monday at a lunch at the city dairy farm. Charles L. Chosewood, councilman from the third ward and chairman of the committee.” Chosewood frequently entertaining at the prison farm.

1928 — "Magazine Features Georgia's Products / Many Contribute To City Builders' Harvest Number" (10/03/1928)

1928 — “Atlanta Hogs Win (At Southeastern Fair)” (10/06/1928)

1928 — “City To Invest $1,500 In Stock For Dairy Farm” (10/16/1928)

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1929 — “New Motor Rule Exemptions Voted By City Council” (4/02/1929)

1929 — Item, "Repentant Runaways" (7/07/1929)

Two runaway girls sent to city prison farm.

1929 — Notice to Plumbing Contractors (11/11/1929)

“Notice to Plumbing Contractors: Sealed proposals for the Plumbing and Heating for the White Men’s Prison at the City Dairy Farm will be received at the office of the undersigned until 3 P.M. Thursday, November 14, 1929. Drawings and specifications can be obtained upon application to the undersigned. The right is reserved to accept or reject any or all bids and to waive technicalities. W.P. Price. Purchasing Agent, 2nd Floor, City Hall.” (Note: it would take a dead before they would move to build a prison for Black men at the city prison farm).

1929 — “City Dairy Chief Entertains Atlanta Officials” (12/15/1929, two photos + caption)

🧨1930 — "Negro Escapes One Day Before His Term Expires" (1/15/1930)

1930 — “Alderman Approve Councilmanic Papers” (2/04/1930)

Paper, among others, providing for sale of cows at the city prison dairy farm sent to Mayor I. N. Ragsdale for approval. City councilmen were referred to as "aldermen" at this time.

1930 — “New Dormitory Ready At City Prison Farm” (4/04/1930)

"The dormitory was constructed to relieve crowded  conditions and to afford separate lodging places for white and negro prisoners. It has a capacity for 100 cots." 

 1930 — “‘Loans’ To Members Of Council Attacked By Grand Jury/Six City Officials Accused By Grand Jurors” (3/02/1930)

Four-page expose: “Walter Taylor And Harry York Head List of 20 Indicted In Graft Expose/Political ‘Ring’ Rules City, Jury Charges/Hansell, Saunders, Couch, and Price Named By Jurors/Councilmen Chosewood and Hardy Indicted; Jack White, Business Partner of York, Is Included In List; Perjury Charged to Ben Massell and to Richard Shoup Roy D. Warren Is Accused of Bribery”

1930 — “Acting Mayor Frees 258 Prisoners” (7/04/1930)

1930 — “Mayor Pro Tem Violated Oath, Attorney Says / Criticism Continues To Be Heaped Upon Official For Liberating 273 City Prison Inmates / Many Prisoners Back In Toils / Mayson Says Couch May Be Impeached” (7/06/1930)

1930 — “Bustling Activity At City Stockade And Farm Is Succeeded By Air Of Silent Desolation” (7/06/1930)

“Fourth of July amnesty” offered to all 273 inmates by order of acting mayor, Alderman J. Allen Couch. Photo of prison farm.

1930 — "Civil War Days In Georgia: Major-General W.H.T. Walker" (7/27/1930)

Four-page feature in the Atlanta Constitution's magazine, The Constitution, which was part of a series around the anniversary of the Battle of Atlanta, which primary took place in East Atlanta. Cobb's Mill and Entrenchment Creek (often spelled Intrenchment) are mentioned throughout the article among key battle sites. City and federal prison farm lands were already on these lands by 1930, and by the next decade, Atlanta's wastewater treatment facility would be developed at these sites and then relocated. Today there are two Civil War historical markers standing outside the fence of the old water treatment plant.

1930 — “Legless Man Wins In Fight At Farm” (9/05/1930) 

Homer Haney, 36, legless, knocked his assailant unconscious with “blocks of wood, which he uses instead of crutches.” Both men arrested at prison farm.

1930 — “5 Flee Prison Farm; Trio Are Recaptured” (9/21/1930)

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1931 — Item (prisoner death), (3/3/1931)

“An inquest to determine the cause of death of J.T. Warren, of Griffin, will be held at the Harry G. Poole funeral home at 11 o’clock this morning by the Dekalb County coroner. Warren was found dead Sunday in a cell at the city dairy farm.”

1931 — "Chosewood Trial Scheduled Today" (6/23/1931)

🧨 1931 — Item, "(Stolen) Dynamite" (7/31/1931)

🧨 1931 — Item (city quarry injury) (8/16/1931)

1931 — Item (prisoner escape) (9/12/1931)

“Omar Harvey, 37, legless prisoner at the city dairy farm, who ‘walked out’ of the institution Friday, was recaptured a few hours later at Pratt and Gilmer Streets. Harvey, who lost both legs many years ago when they were frozen while he was driving a beer truck, is serving a 20-day sentence at the farm.”

 1931 — “Key Reveals Plan For New Station” (12/20/1931; also see 2/20/1934, 6/12/1935) 

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1932 — “City Public Work Expenditures Hit” (5/29/1932) 

“Reduction of labor force at city dairy farm to save about $8,000 a year." "Rock quarry loss" (worked by approximately 45 stockade laborers from the city prison farm)

1932 — “Morris Charges Get Hearing Today” (6/28/1932)

1932 — “Committee Suspends City Dairy Farm Head: Tom C. Morris Charged With Drunkenness And Use of City Materials” (6/29/1932)

1932 — Notice (7/24/1932)

“Tom C. Morris, deposed superintendent of the city prison dairy farm, will be tried on charges of incompetence, drunkenness and using prison labor on his own farm at ameeting of the prison farm committee to begin at 7:30 o’clock Wednesday night at the city hall, it was announced Saturday by Councilman George B. Lyle, Chairman.”

1932 — “‘Conspiracy Charges’ Are Hurled By Morris” (7/28/1932)

1932 — "Council Will Study Relief Proposals / Morris Case Review Also Is Expected At Session Monday Afternoon" (7/31/1932)

1932 — Item (9/01/1932)

“Tom Morris, ousted superintendent of city prisons, Wednesday took out a municipal court warrant against Lewis Mosely, a guard at the city dairy farm, for alleged false swearing. The guard was a witness at the hearing of Morris before the prison committee of city council, it was said.”

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1934 — “City Farm Prisoner Found Dead in Bed” (1/26/1934)

 1934 — “New Police Station To Provide Clean, Roomy, Airy Quarters” (2/20/1934)

WPA/PWA jail, since demolished.

1934 — “Board Seeks $39,000 For Whitehall Work” (4/11/1934)

“Atlanta Finance Committee votes to divert around $4,000 from sewer funds to procure about 85 acres of land adjacent to the city dairy farm and in the vicinity of the South River disposal plant for enlarging the plant there.” 

1934 — “Man Who Lost Horse Given Mule By Council” (5/22/1934)

1934 — “Council Names Board To Probe Dairy Farm” / “Action Is Outgrowth of Margaret Brooks’ ‘Sweat-Box.’Charge, Denied By Officials” (8/21/1934)

Brooks tried to commit suicide 6 times at the city prison farm.

1934 — “Woman Tried Suicide For 6th Time To Escape Stockade ‘Sweat Box’” (8/20/1934)

1934 — "7 Transients Ordered To Get Out Of Town" (8/22/1934)

1934 — “(Sorghum) Mill At Dairy Farm Destroyed By Fire” (9/11/1934)

🧨 1934 — Item (prisoner injured at city quarry injury) (9/25/1934)

1934 — “Food A-Plenty Grown At City Dairy Farm” (11/08/1934)

Photo + caption: “Turnips for supper? Here’s plenty for several dozen Atlanta families, and those being selected from the top of the pile were tossed into kettles for the inmates at the city dairy farm Wednesday night. In the picture are (left to right) Jim Ellis, farm superintendent, Councilman William G. Hastings and Councilman George B. Lyle, chairman of the council’s prison farm committee, photographed while on an inspection tour of the farm Wednesday.”

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1935 — “3 Prisoners Escape From City Stockade” (3/15/1935)

1935 — "Aged Debt-Ridden Negro Denied Stockade Haven" (4/17/1935)

 1935 — “New City Jail Formally Approved By PWA Official After Inspection/Cole Says Prison Is As ‘Escape Proof’ As Any In U.S. ‘If Proper Precautions Are Taken’ By Turnkeys” (6/12/1935)

1935 — "South Boulevard Repaving To Start / Important Traffic Artery To Federal Prison Will Be Improved" (6/19/1935)

1935 — "Mayor Frees 33: Minor Offenders Released From City Stockade" (8/07/1935)

1935 — "The Inadequate Stockade" (8/08/1935)

1935 — “Police Diligence Crowding Farm/Mayor Key Proposes Use Of Parole Plan To Cut Rising Deficit” (9/01/1935)

1935 — “Mayor Still Crack Shot; Kills Bird At First Try” (9/5/1935)

Former Mayor James Key visits prison farm to recreationally shoot fowl and have dinner with his driver and several other named city officials. In 1935, the city prison farm is still a frequent site for local politicians to entertain.

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1936 — “Crime Drive Taxes Municipal Prisons” / “Municipal prisons overflowing as police push ‘clean-up’ campaign” (2/19/1936)

1936 — “Head Of City Dairy To Take New Post/A.B. Childs Will Become Farm Manager At Georgia University UGA)” (3/29/1936)

1936 — Item, "City Asks Funds To Increase Water Supply" (7/7/1936) 

Photo of Mayor Key with Miss Gay B. Shepperson, state WPA administrator. Caption: “Mayor Key (left), in a personal visit yesterday to the offices of Miss Gay B. Shepperson, state WPA administrator, asked for $695,000 of WPA funds to help the city expand its waterworks and meet the city’s increasing demand. Miss Shepperson took the request under consideration. The mayor gave Miss Shepperson a bouquet of water Lillies, which were grown at the city’s prison farm and are shown in the picture.” 

1936 — “Officials Are Dined At City Dairy Farm” (10/23/1936)

Mayor and city council continue to have barbecues at the city prison farm.

1936 — "Ball Plans To Press Probe Of City Prison / Called Meeting Planned To Sift Rumprs Attacking Superintendent" (11/10/1936)

🧨 "WPA Quarry Working Cost Atlanta $32,000 / Chief Donaldson Says City Will Resume Own Operation In New Year" (12/20/1936)

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🧨 1937 — "Quarry Operation Curtailed By WPA / Director Explains Reason For Production Of Less Rock For City" (1/01/1937)

1937 — “Dread Stocks Abolished At State Chain Gang Camps” (3/14/1937, also see 7/02/1938 re: shackles)

Bellwood Camp, now Westside Park, pictured. While not the city prison farm, per se, this was a key event in prison reform history, and it is also important to keep in mind the county, state, and federal prison systems/camps/farms concurrent with the city prisons and city jails at the time. 

1937 — “Prison Renovation At Atlanta Farm Is Sought By Lyle” (6/13/1937; drawing shown)

1937 — “Two Slightly Injured In Forced Landing” (6/17/1937)

Private monoplane crashes in plowed field at city prison farm.

1937 — “Stockade Guest Quietly Decamps/Prisoner Dons Disguise, Walks Away From Farm” (8/06/1937)

1937 — “Attacking A Plague Spot” (6/15/1937)

“Chairman George B. Lyle, of the prison committee of city council, has launched a campaign for enlargement and renovation of the city prison farm. The objective of his movement are proper segregation of prisoners and better control of disease (syphilis).”

1937 — “8 Women Escape City Prison Farm; Four Are Caught” (9/10/1937)

1937 — “Mayor (Hartsfield) Blames Whisky [sic] For Plight Of Most Women Taken By Police” (9/11/1937)

1937 — “Lyle Will Sponsor New Wing At Prison” (9/12/1937)

“As soon as the new wing to house additional prisoners at the dairy farm is completed by prison laborers, I am going to ask for an additional $2,500 to build a second new wing,” the councilman said.

1937 — “Meals At Prison Cost Four Cents/Superintendent, However, Says That’s Ample.” (12/14/1937)

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1938 — “Jailed Woman Dies; Relatives Sought” (4/09/1938)

Mrs. Hazel Smith Koplan (Kaplan), 38, died at Grady Hospital a day before her 30-day sentence at the prison farm ends. She had been taken to the hospital with a throat infection.

1938 — “Grady’s ‘Madame X,” Who Died, Identified” (4/12/1938)

1938 — “Nine Men Escape City Prison Farm” / “White Offenders Flee By Sawing Through Bars Of Window In Building” (4/27/1938)

1938 — “Committee Named To Probe Prisons / Mayor Pro Tem Questions Sincerity Of Hartsfield” (6/14/1938)

Unbelievably, Chosewood, implicated in past prison probes is named to committee.

🧨 1938 — "Dynamite Blast Kills 1, Injures 13 / Dekalb Quarry Superintendent Hurled 12 Feet By Mystery Explosion" (6/16/1938)

1938 — “Conflicting Pictures Are Drawn of Prison Farm Conditions Here” (6/22/1938)

Mayor Hartsfield called the stockade (prison farm) an “ungodly mess,” spurring an investigation.

1938 — “Last Shackles Of Old Chain Gangs Ordered Struck Off By July 15” (7/02/1938, also see 3/14/1937 re: stocks, 1923 re: lash)

Leg irons officially removed by law from the legs of “chain gang” convicts in Georgia on July 15, 1938. 

1938 — “15 (White) Prisoners Flee City Dairy Farm/ Two Bars In Window Of Main Building Are Cut; Other Refuse Escape” (7/25/1938)

1938 — “State Officers Pressing Search For 25 Escapees: Prisoners Gain Freedom From Atlanta, Athens, and Dallas Jails.” (7/26/1938, see 7/02/1938)

1938 — “That ‘Ungodly Mess’ To Be Table Talk” (7/29/1938)

1938 — “General Manager Of Prisons Urged By Council Body / H.H. Gibson, Carnesville, Tentatively Approved For Post By Committee” (7/31/1939)

1938 — "Reform Is Vored For City Prison, Probation Work /H.H. Gibson Is Elected General Manager of Atlanta Farm; J.C. Ellis Quits As Superintendent" (8/02/1938)

1938 — “2 Prisoners Flee, Are Recaptured, City Convicts Were Serving Drunkenness Terms” (10/13/1938)

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1939 — "Atlanta's Budget Boosted $85,148 To $9,803,400.25" (1/12/1939)

“Prison—New equipment. $2.350, and purchase of cows to re-establish the city dairy farm. $5,000.”

1939 — “2 Up For Drinking Escape City Farm” (6/09/1939)

1939 — Job Listing, “3 Super Guards Wanted By City: Carpenter-Farmer, Cook and Truck- Driving Electrician Are Needed” (9/15/1939)

1939 — “City Prison Farm Cans Surplus For Winter Use” (11/02/1939)

Photo of prison farm superintendent H.H. Gibson and Councilman Charles L. Chosewood, chairman of the prison farm committee, posing with food canned by inmates at prison farm.

1939 — “More Prison Farm Land Is Favored / Council Finance Committee To Recommend 184 Acre Addition” (11/04/1939)

1939 — “10 Women Prisoners Flee City Farm; Four Retaken: Monotony of Making Uniforms Given As Reason For Escape” (11/07/1939)

1939 — "County Residents Protest Prison's Farm Expansion" (11/14/1939)

1939 — “Lyle Will Seek To Abandon Farm In Dekalb County” (11/16/1939)

1939 — “Council Group Defers Request For Signs Fund” (11/18/1939)

City finance committee agrees to purchase 184 additional acres adjacent to current prison farm. “H.H. Gibson, prison superintendent, urged the purchase.”

1939 — “Negro Prisoners To Get New Home” (11/25/1939, see 12/05/1939)

Almost 15 years after the white male prisoners were provided lodging at the city prison farm, and the prisoners built it themselves, of course.

1939 — Item (12/02/1939)

Dekalb County officials yesterday swarmed to what they thought would be a meeting of council’s finance committee at which a proposal to purchase an additional 184 acres of land at the city dairy farm would be considered, but there was no meeting. Undaunted they called Mayor Hartsfield asking that he give them a hearing before he approves any new purchases for the prison. He promised to do so. Among those in the party were Paul Lindsay and Murphy Candler, members of the Dekalb County delegation in the Georgia legislature; Scott Candler, county commissioner, and W.M. Rainey, county school superintendent.”

1939 — Item (12/05/1939)

Prison committee efforts “to engage an engineer and draftsman to begin plans for construction of a negro prison at the prison farm were balked temporarily in council yesterday. Committee members said the city must vacate its present building on Hilliard Street because the Atlanta Housing Authority has bought it for Capitol Homes, but Councilman George B. Lyle and Howard Haire served notice they will move for reconsideration at the December 18 meeting of the council.”

1940 — Item (bids for city supplies) (3/07/1940)

“Bids will be opened…for approximately $22,000 worth of city supplies..,”including building material for the city dairy farm, among other departments, etc.

🚔 "Pistol Range Is Dedicated By Rifle Shot / Mayor Fires First Shot At New Police Pistol Range" (5/1/1940)

As of 2021, the APD Police Training Academy is currently located at 180 Southside Industrial Parkway and was previously located on Key Road, and before that at police headquarters (see 1947). The Atlanta Police Pistol Range, first opened at downtown police headquarters in 1940 and moved to Key Road in the late 1940s, is currently still located on Key Road and is frequently in the news for noise (see 2019). 

🧨 1940 — "At The Courthouse" (6/13/1940)

1940 — Item (7/24/1940)

“A total of $305.74 will be added to the cost of construction of a new prison building at the city diary farm under action of city council. H.H. Gibson, superintendent, asked permission to divert that amount from the sale of farm products to the building fund.”

1940 — "Education Unit Asked To Aid City Prisoners / Gibson Asks Guidance In Vocational Program For Inmates" (8/23/1940, photo)

1940 — “Work On New Prison Project Halted By Court / Dekalb Property Owners Get Injunction On City Farm Work” (11/24/1940)

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1941 — “Lyle To Press For Jury Probe Of Prison Farm/Superintendent Gibson Spurns Councilman’s Demand To Quit” (1/08/1941)

City prison farm superintendent, H.H. Gibson, on the job since 1938, was asked to resign and refused. Mayor Hartsfield ultimately vetoed the city council in June 1942.

1941 — “Rules Adopted For Operating Prison Farm / Construction Chief Tells Committee More (Prison) Labor Is Needed” (1/17/1941) 

1941 — “Gibson Defends Policy of City Prison Farm, Denies Insufficient Men Assigned for Work on Streets” (1/18/1941)

1941 — “City Prison Farm Increases $44,000 In Value In 3 Years” (2/19/1941, two photos)

1941 — “Prison Farm Head Told To Stay On Job” (3/07/1941)

1941 — Item (sale of prison farm stock) (3/18/1941)

“Sale of a bull and three of the 11 mules at the city prison farm was approved yesterday by council on recommendation of George B. Lyle, chairman of the prison committee. Council also authorized collection of concession fees at the prison and ordered them turned into the municipal treasury.”

1941 — “City Prison Farm Probe Is Sought” (5/04/1941)

1941 — “The Pulse of the Public / Report On Condition At City Prison Farm” (5/18/1941) 

“Report On Conditions At City Prison Farm”: crowded conditions, complaint that construction of new prison building not complete and materials are deteriorating at taxpayer expense.

1941 — "All Supplies For Fourth Corp Will Be Kept At Conley Depot" (6/13/1941)

1941 — “Group To Urge Protection of New Building/$25,000 Investment In Unfinished Prison Farm Structure” (6/22/1941)

1941 — “Grand Jury Asks Retention of Prison Farm” (7/01/1941)

1941 — "Prison Farm," Grand Jury Presentments (7/05/1941)

1941 — “Atlanta Prison Farm Fence Ruled Inadequate” (10/24/1941)

Location listed as “on Intrenchment Creek near Constitution station (depot).”

1941 — Item (11/04/1941)

“Judge James C. Davis, of Dekalb superior court, yesterday decreed that Atlanta’s prison farm in Dekalb County cease ‘the improper manner of operation which has made it a nuisance’ and that ‘an adequate fence’ must be maintained around the property.” 

1941 — “Prison Aids City Labor Division” ( 11/13/1941)

1941 — “City To Budget $25,000 Fund For ‘Defense’/Proposal For Hospital At Prison Farm Is Studied By White” (12/10/1941)

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1942 — “City Farm Offered For Bomber Plant” (2/01/1942)

Bell Bomber Plant considers city prison farm property for site of plant (ultimately ends up being built in Cobb County).

1942 — Chart, Atlanta Mayoral Candidate Platforms (including stances on prison farm) (5/24/1942)

1942 — "The H.H.Gibson Case" (6/18/1942)

1942 — "Detention Plan Is Prerequisite For Vice Drive / Conversion Of Buildings At Prison Farm Into Hospital (For Prostitutes) Viewed" (7/01/1942)

1942 — “Heat Fells First Victim in Atlanta” (7/17/1942)

John McIntyre, 42, suffered sunstroke at prison farm and was taken to Grady Hospital (he died, according to Ancestry(dot)com.

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1943 — “Hartsfield Sounds Keynote Of Economy For New Council” (1/05/1943)

🧨 1943 — "Woman Is Found Dead By Scouts Staging 'Raid'" (1/10/1943)

1943 — “City Will Hold All Venereal Victims” (3/28/1943)

Upon the opening of the new prison building (see 10/23/1943), a former structure at the city prison farm will be turned into a Fulton County clinic for inmates suffering from venereal diseases.

“I further recommend that the new prison building at the city prison farm be finished as soon possible, since the need is great, its operation will save in pay rolls and its completion makes available quarters for a greatly enlarged program of treating social diseases.”

1943 — “Loss Of Permit Looms For First Georgia Driver /Atlantan Has Record Of 20 Violations In Two Years” (4/1/1943)

“A 25 year-old Negro with a record of 20 traffic violations in two years may be the first person in Georgia to have his driver’s license permanently revoked.”

1943 — “Woman Bound Over For Not Taking Syphilis Treatment / Served In Stockade” (4/02/1943)

1943 — “Callaway Sets New Trial For J.T. Gazaway” (4/03/1943)

1943 — “Legality Of Law Is Hit After Trial” (4/05/1943)

1943 — “Public Can Use Prison Cannery” (4/11/1943)

1943 — “Council Bans Mixed Drinks For Atlanta / New Prison Quarters” (4/20/1943) 

“Council also passed an appropriation for new prison quarters at the new city prison farm…”

1943 — “Stafford Graydon Suffers Stroke” (5/12/1943)

Abolishment of “classification of farm guard, establishing all guards at the farm as ‘guards’.”

1943 — “Traffic Crash Followed By Record Fines” (5/26/1943)

“What is believed to be a new record for fines was set yesterday in police traffic court when Acting Recorder Joe Allen ordered Fred Jones, a Negro, to pay fines aggregating $350 or spend 90 days in the city stockade as the result of charges docketed against him Monday following an automobile accident at Cain and Ivy streets [sic].”

1943 — Item, “Around Atlanta With The Constitution Staff” (7/14/1943)

“Members of the city personnel staff yesterday were dinner guests of H.H. Gibson, superintendent of the city prison farm. They inspected the new prison building after the meal.”

1943 — Item, “Traffic Conviction” (7/21/1943)

1943 — “One More Word: Barbarism Flourishes” (9/18/1943)

Ralph McGill column about prisons in Georgia. “…under the administration in 1941 and 1942 the prisons of Georgia reached their lowest ebb of degradation and cruelty.” The city prison farm and federal honor farm are not    mentioned specifically, but the column is an indictment of the whole system following major scandals and probes of conditions at Tattnall (now Georgia State Prison).

1943 — “Probe Fatal Shooting Of Stockade Prisoner” (10/17/1943)

“Frank Reynolds, 17 year-old Negro, was fatally wounded yesterday morning at the city’s asphalt plant at 1111 Hill street [sic]. Radio Patrolmen V.H. Whitley and J.L. Pope said the prisoner was shot by Guard Robert Cornett.”

1943 — “New Prison Building To Be Put Into Use” (10/23/1943)

1943 — “There’s A War, Prices Are Going Up, So Drunks Must Pay $5 High Fine” (11/07/1943)

1943 — Item, “Around Atlanta With The Constitution Staff” (11/27/1943, see 10/23/1943)

“Plans to beautify the grounds of the new $100,000 city prison farm operated by the city…”

1943 — “3-Day Holiday For City Hall” (12/17/1943)

“H.H. Gibson, superintendent of the prison farm, said the Christmas Day menu will include barbecued pork, Brunswick stew, apple pie, and candy. Gibson added that prisoners having good records will get time off and that many will get to celebrate the holidays with their families. There are 230 prisoners on the farm.”

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1944 — “Clinic To Ease Venereal Load” (4/05/1944) 

1944 — “New Bastille/Hash House/New City Jail Opening is Set” (4/07/1944)

Two photos of new structures on prison farm. $125,000 prison on Key Rd., 725 inmate capacity

1944 — “Barter System Replaces Cash At Prison Farm” (5/02/1944)

1944 —“Arnall to See Prison Opening” (5/17/1944)

Governor Arnall and Mayor Hartsfield attend opening of new prison on same site as previous prison, which is to be converted into VD hospital. “Most of the work was done with prison labor, with the city providing materials.” Construction took about four years.

1944 — “Atlanta Prison Farm Opened” (5/18/1944) 

Photo of Governor Arnall and prison Farm superintendent H.H. Gibson

1944 — “Possible Authority Clash Poses Home Rule Problem” (12/10/1944)

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1945 — "Help Prisoners: Alcoholics Anonymous Work In Cells" (3/18/1945)

1945 — "Atlanta's Prison Farm Used As A Model" (4/04/1945)

1945 — “Louisville Hears Of City Prison Operation Plan” (4/09/1945)

Photo of prison farm with caption: “Selected as Model Institution by Louisville (Ky.) Council of Churches, H.H. Gibson, Superintendent, Has Reported."

1945 — "Ex-Slave, 114, Gets 20 Days As Drunk" (4/18/1945)

1945 — Item, "U.S. Pays City For Farm Work" (5/04/1945)

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1946 — City Council Item (1/08/1946)

"Among the first acts of the 1946 city council was authorization of the purchase of 89 acres of land adjacent to the city prison farm for $10,000."

📍 1946 — "Negro Police Sought In City Hall March" (3/05/1946)

Protest at Atlanta City Hall calling for Black police officers. The force would not integrate until 1948.

1946 — Atlanta League Of Women Voters Item, "Joe Allen" (2/10/1946)

"Voted for dropping all charges against city prison farm superintendent (H.H. Gibson) and against selling the prison farm property, after long controversy had ensued in council concerning administration of the farm. Charges were dropped and the farm not sold." / Interesting note: Allen once also sentenced to the city farm for DUI.

1946 — "City Prisoner Injured In Fall Beneath Truck" (5/30/1946)

1946 — "Operation Disguise: 2 Fugitives Inside Out To Outside In" (8/26/1946)

1946 — "25 Years Of Service: This Officer 'Off Wagon'—Glad Of It" (10/21/1946)

"(Patrolman) Robinson has spent the last four years on the back door of the patrol wagon and probably has accompanied more citizens to the City Jail and City Stockade than any other man. And, strangely enough, he leaves the 'Black Maria' with a kind word for erring Atlantans."

1946 — "Grow Corn And Taters, Too: New Atlanta Prison 'Good Investment'" (11/04/1946, photo)

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1947 — "Let's Arrest Some More" (1/31/1947)

🧨 1947 — "City Quarry Worker Dies Of Injuries" (5/23/1947)

1947 — "City Prison Superintendent Defends One-Roof Barracks" (6/12/1947)

1947 — "Loomis Rides Paddy Wagon When He's Short $7 On Fine" (6/19/1947)

Homer Loomis was the leader of the white separatist group, the Columbian Brownshirts, which was notorious for dynamiting the homes of Black people in "White" neighborhoods.

1947 — "Prisoners 'Hungry;' Quit Work" (6/21/1947)

1947 — "Stockade Fare Turnip Heavy, Prober Agrees" (6/21/1947)

1947 — "Prisoners Frowning On Menu Sentenced" (6/28/1947)

🚔 1947 — "City To Open School Similar To FBI's" (8/10/1947)

Atlanta's and the state's first police academy.

1947 — "Atlanta Womens' Prison Farm" (7/18/1947, The Southern Israelite)

1947 — "$9,187 In Fines: City Recorder Has Biggest Day" (9/031947)

1947 — "Let's See Now...: Women Get Dividends From Prison Project" (9/05/1947)

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1948 — "The Forgotten Woman / Jewish And Christian Ladies Are United In Sponsorship Of A Project Of Rehabilitation At Atlanta's City Prison Farm" (1/30/1948, "The Southern Israelite")

1948 — “Prison Farm A Debtor’s Prison: Women Lawyers Are Asked To Aid Delinquent Females” (2/22/1948)

📍🚔 1948 —  "Atlanta's First Patrol Of Negroes On Duty" (4/04/1948)

🧨 1948 — Item, "Your City Hall: Quarry Operation" (6/06/1948)

1948 — "Obscene Booklet Mart Bared As 2 Are Arrested" (5/25/1948)

1948 — "Judge Arnold Would Raise Pay In Prison" (7/01/1948)

1948 — Item,  "Saving Rain" (7/11/1948)

"Yesterday's rain may save the City more than $20,000 in damage to City Prison Farm crops."

🧨 1948 — "Cave-In Kills City Prisoner" (9/02/1948)

🧨 1948 — "Police Blotter" (10/19/1948)

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1949 — “Police Blotter” (2/04/1949)

Police rifle range on Key Road mentioned as scene of theft. 

1949 — "'Church Ladies' Pass Cookies, Tchaikovsky Played For City Stockade" (3/20/1949)

Celestine Sibley column, four various photos of prisoners at the city prison farm. In one image, "a group of Negro women prisoners are shown spreading 'sludge,' a chemically treated refuse from the sewage disposal plant, into eroded land."

🧨1949 — "Private Road Maintenance Contracts Cheaper Than Convict Labor—Giliam" (4/08/1949)

1949 — "Courts And County Affairs" (11/01/1949)

Rookie APD Officer J.D. Hudson, 22, charged with assault and battery on a prisoner. He would return to the force after a brief suspension and fine, and over thirty years later would become the director of the Atlanta Prison Farm (see 1971).

1950 — "Prisoners Increase" (1/20/1950) 

1950 — "Coca's 'Mercy Death' Brings Grief To Kids" (3/03/1950)

Coca, a 22 year-old elephant at the Grant Park Zoo, was euthanized and buried at the city prison farm among other zoo animals, including another elephant, Maude. Coca had been a gift from Asa Candler, Jr. on October 10, 1933. 

🧨 1950 — "Five Miles Of Dekalb Woods Burn" (3/24/1950)

1950 — "Keeps 12,000 A Year: City Farm's Lush 347 Acres Solace For Miscreant Tide" (4/19/1950, photos)

1950 — "Mayor's Day" (4/28/1950)

Mayor Hartsfield's day recounted. He attends luncheon at the city prison farm with the prison committee and "a meeting in which Negro encroachments in the Mozely Park area were discussed during the afternoon."

1950 — "Police Blotter" (5/6/1950)

1950 — Item (6/10/1950)

"City prison farm inhabitants will get a chance to give blood to the Red Cross Blood Bank Saturday, when the mobile unit visits the camp..."

1950 — "Biting Police Costly, Two Find Here" (6/22/1950)

1950 — "Police Blotter" (7/18/1950)

1950 — "City Hall News: Prison Reflects Times" (8/05/1950)

1950 — "Prison Farm Inferno" (9/02/1950, photo)

1950 — "FBI Spots Prisoner Wanted For Murder" (10/03/1950)

1950 — "Can Shooter Jailed" (10/12/1950)

1950 — "Drunken Jaywalker 'Safe' For Three Days" (12/01/1950)

1950 — "College Daze: After Exams, Prison Farm" (12/11/1950)

1950 — "Alley Highball Is Given Sting" (12/20/1950)

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1951 — "Police Blotter" (2/02/1951)

1951 — "Taxicab Driver Foils Break At City Farm / Former Inmate Went Back To Rescue His Friend" (4/24/1951)

1951 — "Prison Land Sought" (5/11/1951)

1951 — "Youth Found Asleep In Church Sentenced" (5/26/1951)

1951 — Item, “Church Women Help” (7/07/1951, photos)

Photo of female inmate with Salvation Army worker.

1951 —  "Rescue Try Misses Fire At City Farm" (8/25/1951)

1951 — "City Hall News: Stockade Liquor Case On Tonight" (9/26/1951)

1951 — "2 Policemen Suspended In Bootlegging" (9/27/1951)

1951 — "Big Parade To Launch Plan Jan. 7 / Improved Services To Be Keynote" (10/26/1951)

"The Thursday luncheon was held at the City Prison Farm. Councilmen surveyed the farm under guidance of Superintendent H.H. Gibson."

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1952 — "Freed In Traffic Death But Gets Prison Sentence" (1/03/1952)

1952 — Item, "Approval Sought" (1/17/1952)

"City Council Monday will be asked to approve six acres of land at Fayetteville Rd. and the Southern Railroad as an addition to the City Prison Farm and the sale of six lots to help pay the cost."

1952 — "Carpenter Sentenced In Charging Paint To Judge Arnold" (3/061952)

1952 — "Prisoners Cost Of Living Hike At Farm" (3/14/1952)

1952 — "Weir Elected" (4/30/1952)

"Paul Weir, waterworks manager, Tuesday night was elected president of the Association of Administrative Department Heads of the City of Atlanta at a dinner held at the City Prison Farm." Weir's wife performed "fine rehabilitation work" at the city prison farm through the Atlanta Council of Church Women" and received a gift of perfume that was noted in the April 7, 1952 edition of the Atlanta Constitution.

1952 — Grand Jury Presentments (5/09/1952)

Fulton County venereal hospital (Key Road) and city prison farm (Key Road) inspections mentioned.

1952 — "VD Clinic Transfer Approved" (5/30/1952)

"The Fulton County Health Board tentatively approved transfer of its venereal disease clinic to the city of Atlanta, in a move to relieve overcrowding at City Prison Farm and permit prisoners to use surplus bed space in clinic."

1952 — "Inveigled Girl Over County Line, Is Charged Here" (7/04/1952)

1952 — "Plan For Ben Hill VD Curb Center Draws Fire" (8/27/1952)

1952 —  "City Hall News: Plan To Add 150 Acres To City's Prison Farm" (9/19/1952)

1952 — "Crop Loss Slight At Prison Farm" (10/22/1952)

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1953 — "138 Donate At Works Camp" (1/14/1953)

1953 — "City Prisoner Death Laid To Broken Skull" (4/23/1953)

1953 — “‘Legs' Law Starts Term At Prison Farm” (6/11/1953)

Glen R. (Legs) Law, 31, of Dawsonville, sentenced to prison farm for liquor running, auto larceny, and speeding 40mph.

1953 — “Judge Finds License-Loser Borrowed His Brothers” (7/10/1953)

1953 — "Bloodmobiles Slate 3 Visits" (12/19/1953)

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1954 — "Jaycees Eye Ben Hill For TB Hospital" (2/12/1954)

"Mayor Hartsfield said he flatly opposes uses of the old VD clinic at the city prison farm as a TB hospital."

1954 — “Key Road Hospital Hit As Unsatisfactory” (2/13/1954; letter to editor)

A tuberculosis hospital is being considered at the city prison farm after use for venereal diseases.

🧨 1954 — "10-Ton Boulder Kills 3 Prisoners At City Quarry" (7/08/1954) 

1954 — "Charles L. Chosewood, Sr., Former Councilman, Dies" (12/23/1954)

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1955 — "Prison Farm Yield Good Despite Drought" (1/04/1955)

1955 — "'Deposit 4 Months Please,' For Rip At Telephone" (3/24/1955)

1955 — "City Hall News: Aid For Slum Homeless Asked In Tax Proposal" (4/23/1955)

City council recommended adding "a field auditor to the comptroller's office to check operations at the Atlanta airport, the city's prison farm, and other divisions outside the City Hall" and "reclassified 18 positions of guard at the city prison farm. The positions [were] changed to farm guard with a salary range of $8.32 to $10.20 daily. The guard salaries were upped from the previous pay of $7.99 to $9.78 a day."

1955 — "Bound Over In Fatal Beating" (6/01/1955) 

1955 — "13 Here Flee City Farm; 3 Recaptured" (9/21/1955)

1955 — "Leap-Frogging Driver Gets 7 Months In Prison Farm" (10/15/1955)

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1956 — “Man Arrested in Raid Fined ” (2/16/1956)

1956 — "Saved On Roof, Gets Term" (4/24/1956)

1956 — "36 Prisoners Break Legs In Rock Quarry Protest / "30 Cut Heel Tendons After 1951 Yule Dinner" (7/31/1956)

Meanwhile at the infamous Rock Quarry Prison in Buford, GA.

1956 — "2-Hr. Plea, Handshake Foil 5-Floor Leap Here" (8/16/1956)

"Officers said he was at Grady to be treated for lacerations he inflicted on himself earlier in the day at the city stockade, where he is serving 60 days for traffic violations."

🧨 1956 — "Dangerous Sport" (9/17/1956, photo, city rock quarry closed recently)

📍 1956 — "Strip Atlanta Of Capitol, Klan Chief Blast Demands" (10/01/1956)

1956 — "City Hall: Prison Farm Purchase" (10/03/1956)

100 additional acres being considered at the intersection of Bouldercrest (at the time written as Boulder Crest) and Constitution Roads.

1956 — "Father Of Baby Killed In Fire Fined $150" (11/16/1956)

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1957 — "New Alcoholic Clinic At Prison Farm Urged" (7/25/1957)

1957 — "Police Playing Papa To Litter of 4 Pups Here" (8/07/1957)

1957 — "Judges Join In War On Vice Here" (8/10/1957)

1957 — "76 Sent To Prison Farm As City Pushes Roundup" (8/13/1957)

1957 — "Liquor Tax For Clinic Is Proposed" (9/12/1957)

"Under the (Judge) Webb proposal the entire project would be located in city prison farm buildings and would be staffed by experts. The clinic would be operated in conjunction with municipal courts in cooperation with individuals and organizations."

1957 — “Webb Claims Solution of Alcoholic Problem” (9/20/1957)

“Judge Webb wants a modern clinic for alcoholics created in a partially vacant building at the city prison farm. He suggests a director who would serve as admission counselor, and clinical psychologist, an administrative assistant, a nursing staff, a cook and orderlies.”

1957 — “State Lists 1,000 Asian Flu Cases; City Frees Prisoners in Outbreak” (10/17/1957)

“In attempting to halt an epidemic at Atlanta’s prison farm, Judge Arnold ordered prison superintendent H. H. Gibson to turn the prisoners loose, and then sterilize the prison.”

1957 — "City Prison Population Could Remain Slashed" (10/17/1957)

1957 — "City Hall News: A Policeman To Hunt Lewd Books Is Asked" (10/22/1957)

Also, "heard a report from Alderman Lee Field, chairman of the prison committee, that influenza has been all but stamped out at the city prison farm. Field said some prisoners had been released to ease overcrowding and that early treatment and precautions have 'paid off.'"

1957 — "City Hall News: Judges Trim Prison Rolls But Inmates Will Feast" (12/24/1957)

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1958 — "Prison Farm Hit By Dekalb Jury" (2/26/1958)

1958 — “Let’s Work At Cause of City Prison Problem” (2/26/1958)

Alcoholism issue raised and rehabilitation at prison urged as had been suggested by Judge James Webb.

1958 — "City Judge Webb Pushes For Clinic For Drunks" (3/18/1958)

1958 — "Placard Carriers Sentenced To 30 Days At Prison Farm" (7/30/1958)

Five members of the right-wing extremist group the States Rights Party were arrested while protesting "in front of The Atlanta Journal and Constitution" and sentenced to the city prison farm. Many of them, particularly George Michael Bright, later figured prominently in the trial for the dynamite bombing of the Jewish synagogue on Peachtree Street on October 12. One of his defense lawyers, in both the July demonstration case and the temple bombing was white supremacist attorney James Venable, who would soon form a national order of the Klan in 1963. 

1958 — "Aldermen Skip Crime Panel Vote / Hear Report" (8/05/1958)

"Heard a report from Field that replacement of the fire-razed home of the superintendent is under way [sic] and the cost will be around $15,000 of which $13,000 will be financed by insurance. He also said a $40,000 joint recreation and utility building at the prison farm will provide accommodations for overflow when other parts of the prison become too crowded." (see 5/06/1959)

📍 1958 — "Jewish Temple On Peachtree Wrecked By Dynamite Blast" (10/13/1958)

1958 — "Cost Of Prison Meals Shows Slight Rise" (10/27/1958)

1958 —  "Medical Care At Atlanta Prison Farm Assailed Anew By Dekalb Grand Jury" (11/25/1958)

1958 —  “Dekalb Jury Findings Merit Careful Attention” (11/26/1958)

“This is the second grand jury this year to find fault with its medical facilities and they, along with the lack of fire safeguards referred to in the presentments, should be checked into immediately and any needed changes made.” Grand jury found conditions “objectionable” and continued to recommend rehabilitationof alcoholics.

1958 — “Flash Fire Hits City’s Prison Farm” (11/27/1958) (see above, day prior)

1958 — "Prison Improvements" (12/23/1958) 

1958 — "Step In Right Direction Taken At Prison Farm" (12/24/1958)

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1959 — "200 More Policemen Asked To Stem Crime Wave Here" (2/26/1959)

1959 — "Aldermen To Join Prison Dedication" (5/6/1959)

"Atlanta's aldermen will attend a luncheon Tuesday at the city prison farm when a recreational building will be formally opened. The city spent $46,500 and the labor was done by prisoners. H.H. Gibson, farm superintendent, says the new structure would have cost more than $100,000 on the open market."

1959 — "City Agrees To House Dekalb Prisoners" (8/12/1959)

1959 — "Judge Rips 'Rattlebrains,' Gives Brawlers 30 Days" (8/25/1959)

1959 — "Baited Bird Hunt Laid To Aldermen" (9/26/1959)

"Two Atlanta aldermen have been booked by federal agents on charges of shooting doves in a baited field at the City Prison Farm."

1959 — "Field Studies Prison Farm Hunting Ban" (9/26/1959)

1960 — "2 Aldermen Fined $10 In Baited Hunt" (1/16/1960)

📍1960 — "77 Negroes Arrested Here As Cafeteria Sitdowns Start" (3/16/1960)

"Two white youths also were arrested during the sitdown [sic] demonstrations. They were grabbed by police officers at the Trailways bus depot when one of them kicked a Negro radio reporter. Later, each was sentenced to 30 days in the stockade on a little used charge of 'failing to move on.'"

"The brother of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., leader of the Montgomery bus boycott of two years ago, was one of the Negoes arrested at the Terminal Station. He is the Rev. A.D. William King. King said he was a 'spokesman' for the Negroes in his group, but 'not the leader'....We must be forever striving for the freedom that should be ours under the Constitution. If we are arrested day after day it won't stop us from striving for what is rightfully ours..." 

SEE October 1960, when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is arrested. His brother A.D. King is arrested again then, too, and sentenced to the prison farm again.

1960 —  "Only A Minor Incident Occurs At Sitdowns Here / Officials Identify 77 Arrested At Sitdowns (list)" (3/16/1960)

1960 —  “Judge Asks Officer For Alcoholics/Seek To Set Up Treatment Center” (10/15/1960)

“Municipal Court judges Friday requested the employment of another probation officer as the first step toward establishing a permanent rehabilitation center at the city prison farm for chronic alcoholics.” 

1960 —  "Rome Man Dies At Prison Farm" (8/13/1960)

1960 —  "City Appoints A.E. Thomaston To Prison Post" (9/20/1960)

"Aubrey Elijah Thomaston, 32, has been named assistant superintendent of the city prison farm."

1960 —  "Jury Raps City Prison Crowding, Sees Health Peril To Farm Inmates / Overfilled City Prison Called Health Hazard" (10/29/1960)

📍1960 —  "King, 51 Others Arrested Here In New Sit-In Push, Further Protests Foreseen" (10/20/1960, see Nine Days)

📍1960 —  "26 More Arrested In Sit-Ins; Many Counters Closed Here" (10/21/1960)

📍1960 — "King Freed On $2,000 Bond, Flies Home From Reidsville" (10/28/1960)

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1961 — "Ran Off To Get Cash For Fine, Says Prisoner Shot In Escape Bid Here" (3/29/1961)

1961 — "Nazi And 4 Youths Sentenced To Jail" (8/31/1961) 

"A heel-clicking 'American Nazi' and five teen-agers [sic] were convicted Wednesday of interfering with Atlanta's school desegregation."

1961 — "Judge Asks Release Of 4 Youths / Judge Arnold Asks Release Of Youths Sentenced By Him" (9/01/1961)

"Meanwhile, an Atlanta attorney, James Venable, filed writs of habeas corpus against [H].H. Gibson, superintendent of the city prison farm, charging that two of the youths were being illegally detained and had been illegally arrested at Murphy High School Wednesday." 

James Venable, of course, was a Klanman, and two years later would start a national order of the Klan.

1961 — "Virginia Nazi Set Free By Court Here" (9/16/1961)

1961 — "Willie B. To Shed His Paint—For Art" (6/29/1961)

1961 — "Berserk City Prisoner Quelled By Tear Gas" (9/28/1961)

1961 — “Statue of Willie B. Missing And The City Wants It Back” (10/02/1961)

1961 — "That Statue Of Willie B. Goes Home" (10/03/1961)

Statue found in yard in Avondale Estates and was returned to grave site at city prison farm.

1961 — "Beating-Case Negro Seized Again, Fined" (10/10/1961)

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1962 — “Grand Jury Points Way To Brake The Treadmill” (1/04/1962)

Alcohol rehabilitation suggested for Atlanta prison farm as well as amendments to drunkenness laws.

1962 — "Pay $17 Fines Or Go To Jail, Court Tells 23 Grady Pickets" (2/15/1962)

22 Demonstrators at Grady Hospital fined and/or sentenced to city prison farm while protesting unintegrated medical clinics.

1962 — “Surprise Search Gives Jail Farm A Clean Bill” (5/10/1962)

1962 — "H.H. Gibson Retiring At City Farm" (6/20/1962)

H.H. Gibson retires from Atlanta Prison Farm after 24 years on Aug. 1, 1962. His assistant for ten years, Aubrey E. Thomaston, of Excel, AL, succeeds him. 

📍 1962 — "Albany Jails Rev. King; Negroes Vow To March" (7/11/1962)

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rev. Ralph David Abernathy, among others, arrested for protesting segregation without a permit and sentenced to prison farm in Albany, GA. 

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1963 — "Judge Webb Is 'Evicted' From Court—It's All In Fun On His Last Day" (1/01/1963)

1963 — "Theater Man Fined, Given 30 Days In Obscene Film Case" (1/11/1963)

1963 — “It’s $2,605 Fine Or 330 Days — And Traffic Case Isn’t Over” (2/28/1963)

1963 — "Pastor, 66, Sentenced In Sit-In" / "City's Action To Integrate Praised" (5/31/1963)

California pastor protesting segregation sentenced to Atlanta Prison Farm. A separate story next to the arrest article praising Atlanta's integration efforts.

1963 — "City Frees Minister In Sit-In Case" (6/05/1963)

1963 — "Sit-In Minister, 66, To Get Sanity Test" (6/07/1963)

1963 —  "14 Whites, Negroes Freed After Day In City Stockade" (6/20/1963)

The students had been protesting segregation downtown at Leb's Restaurant at Forsyth and Luckie Streets.

1963 — Pickrick Restaurant ad (7/06/1963)

Pickrick Restaurant ad from Lester Maddox, racist segregationist and Georgia's future 75th Governor, taking aim at city government for taking livestock and other products from the city prison farm. His restaurant closed rather than integrate.

1963 — "U.S. Adds $85,276 To Fight Pollution Along South River" (12/14/1963) 

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1964 — "3 Racial Protesters Fined In City Court / 267 Others Await Trials Here; Dick Gregory Still Adamant" (1/29/1964)

1964 — "Bandit Gang Uses Prison For Hideout" (3/13/1964)

1964 — "2 Wounded At Prison Farm As Gun Goes Off On Loading" (5/14/1964)

1964 — “Atlantan, 70, Refuses 4 Cents To Panhandler, Is Beaten Up” (6/24/1964)

1964 — "Four Days In Atlanta's Jails" (The Atlantic magazine, July 1964, by Gloria (Bishop) Wade Gayles)

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1965 — "Roy Mauldin Leads 7 In Prison Break / City Farm Dormitory Lock Smashed From The Outside" (3/03/1965)

1965 — "Pollution Facility Dedicated Here" (8/05/1965)

Mayor Ivan Allen, Jr. officiated the dedication of the new Intrenchment Creek Water Pollution Control Plant on August 4, 1965 during re-election period.

1965 — "6 Days In Jail" (front-page investigative series, 10/10/65-10/16/1965, Atlanta Constitution)

Atlanta Constitution reporter Dick Herbert spent six days undercover at the city prison farm (note: first installment in series was not available in newspaper archive).

1965 — "Prison Panel Chief Praises Reporter's Series" (10/14/1965)

1965 — "Police Capt. Hulsey To Lead Reforms At City Prison Farm" (10/27/1965)

1965 — "Steel Strike Truce Asked By Aldermen" (11/02/1965)

"Prison administrator" position created to assist current prison superintendent, Aubrey E. Thomaston, "will maintain his pay and title but will only be responsible for management of the prison's farm. The new administrator, expected to be police Capt. Ralph Hulsey, will be his superior.

1965 — "Here's One For The Books, He Tried To Break INTO Jail" (12/03/1965)

1965 — "Prisoner Gets A Hand, Takes A Wife" (12/30/1965)

1965 — "City Prison's A Much Better Place These Days" (12/09/1965)

Investigative reporter Dick Herbert follows up on his October series.

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1966 — “Water Aides Occupy 32 Rent-Free City Houses” (2/23/1966)

1966 — "Stockade's Chief Pledges Reform" (6/23/1966)

1966 — "177 Go Home In City Cars; Aldermen Demand Fairness" (6/30/1966)

1966 — “Restoring Alcoholics Is Aim of Clinic Here” (8/08/1966)

Established by the Emory University Department of Psychiatry in collaboration with Fulton County, Grady Hospital and the State Vocational Rehabilitation Administration...eligible patients, Dr. James A. Alford, clinic project director, said, will be referred to the center from the City Prison Farm, Economic Opportunity Atlanta, Inc., Municipal Court, the police department, hospitals and other social and health agencies." The center was located in the since demolished Kemper Bldg. 

1966 — “Man Arrested At Riot Scene Had Fled City Prison Farm” (9/14/1966)

1966 — "No Cruelty In Jails, Allen Says" (10/19/1966)

1966 — "Court Plans Hearing In Jail Bias Case" (10/27/1966)

1966 — "Jail Cruelty Case Gets Full Hearing" (11/30/1966)

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1967— “Task Force Report: City’s Skid Row Denizens Rarely Come In From Cold” / "Are Drunks Sick? One Court Case Can Prove It Here" / "A 'Bum' Finds Out About Life On Skid Row" / "What Made Them Booze? Emory Study Has The Keys" / "Drunk Laws Snare Poor, Lawyer Says" (2/13/1967)

Dick Herbert's column about homeless alcoholics that often end up at the “City Stockade,” Union Mission, or Salvation Army shelters. In October 1965, Herbert spent six days undercover at the city prison farm to dive deeper into the matter (see 1965).

1967 — “Task Force Report: No Country Club—Just A Better City Prison / Little Things Add Up To A More Decent Life” / "They Find Some Changes Made In The Old Stockade" / "Chronic Alcoholic Is Big Problem"(2/27/1967)

1967 — "Prison Farm Improved" (2/28/1967)

1967 — "Mayor Insists On Leases: Allen Moves To Terminate City's Rent-Free Housing" (2/28/1967)

1967 — "Prisoner Collapses And Dies" (5/08/1967)

1967 — "Prison Farm Here Plans Step To Integrate" (5/17/1967)

1967 — “Task Force Report: A Drunk, A Door Here—And One Big, Saving Step, Emory Has Help For The Asking” / "Salvation Army: Respite" / "'Ain't But Two People Can Help Him: God And Hisself'" / "Alleys And Alcoholism A Pretty Bad Combination" (6/05/1967)

"What will happen to the man in the alley, in the flophouse, in the tank, in the prison farm? Emory University, the city of Atlanta, the State of Georgia and the Federal Government are working together to attempt a positive answer to this question, an answer that will offer new life and happiness to potentially doomed people, an answer that may pave the way to a general reconsideration of alcoholism, and result in valuable, newly reconstructed  members of society."

1967 — "Fine Paid, SNCC Aide Quits Jail" (6/24/1967)

1967 — "Imprisoning Of Alcoholics Rules Illegal By Etheridge" (7/15/1967)

1967 — "Prison Chief Told To Check Legality Of Rent-Free Homes" (7/19/1967)

1967 — "Water Committee Balks On 3 Rent-Free Choices" (8/03/1967, see 1966, 1967, 1990)

1967 — Item, Prison Farm Integration (9/05/1967)

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1968 — "Prison Farm Chief Named (3/15/1968)

Mayor Ivan Allen, Jr. appoints Police Capt. R.F. Jordan. He was preceded by Police Capt. Ralph Hulsey, who has been "named to head the Sanitary division of the Public Works department."

1968 — "Convicts Strike For Wages, Attack 'Forced Slave Labor / Convicts Strike Against 'Slavery'"(3/27/1968)

1968 — "ACLU Lawyer To Confer With Striking City Prisoners" (3/28/1968)

1968 — "City Prison Chief Weighs Test For Few Strikers" (3/29/1968)

1968 — "ACLU Bids Court To Back Jail Strike" (4/02/1968)

Two days before Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination. Lawsuits brought by inmates against APD Police Chief Herbert Jenkins and Capt. R.F. Jordan.

1968 — “Prisoner Is Slain And Devoured By Inmates At City Prison Farm” (7/6/1968)

Silly item about a prison farm chicken, John Chicken, that was cooked and served to inmates on July 4th. Har har.

1968 — “Women Inmates Aid Peggy, 5” (7/13/1968)

Peggy Fountain has cystic fibrosis, and she and her mother visited the prison farm to thank the incarcerated women for stuffing envelopes for the cause.

1968 — "Garbage Piles Up; Union Strikes Back" (9/06/1968)

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1969 — "City Convicts Strike, Issue List Of Demands" (5/09/1969, photo)

1969 — "Early End Seen To Prison Strike" (5/10/1969)

1969 — “Officials OK 3 Demands At City Prison” (5/11/1969)

1969 — “Satisfied Inmates Ending City Prison Farm Strike” (5/12/1969)

1969 — “Rape In Cell At Prison Farm Charged To Ousted Guard” (6/18/1969)

1969 — "300 City Prisoners On Strike" (7/23/1969)

1969 — “Told of Cook Hiring Effort, City Prisoners End Strike” (7/24/1969)

1969 — “‘Bird’ Staff Contests Laws” (9/16/1969)

Local underground newspaper,“The Great Speckled Bird," sues Mayor Ivan Allen Jr., Police Chief Herbert Jenkins, Fulton Solicitor Hinson McAuliffe, and City Prison Farm administrator Ralph Jordan” over unconstitutional laws.

1969 — “13 Sternly Sentenced For Rockefeller Melee” (10/07/1969)

Staff of “The Great Speckled Bird” arrested while protesting Rockefeller event, sentenced to city prison farm. Check out the digitized issues from 1969 and 1968. 

1970 — “Hot Issues Brew On Prison Reform” (1/11/1970)

1970 — “City to Pay Herdsman” (2/09/1970)

Swine Herdsman title added at prison farm for worker in charge of 650 pigs. There was also a Dairy Foreman from Stone Mountain, Mr. Elam lived in Stone . These titles distinguish them from general corrections officers that are paid less.

1970 — "Anybody Lose A Pony?" (3/6/1970)

1970 — “2,000 Pills Get Into Prison” (5/08/1970)

1970 — "City 'Prisoner' Eats Too Much: 'Present' Causes Headaches" (6/25/1970)

1970 — “Prison Farm Shift Approved” (10/22/1970)

Mayor Sam Massell proposed to “turn the city prison farm over to Fulton County…”

1970 — “Fulton To Reject City Prison Farm” (12/18/1970)

Chilly reception from Fulton County Commission for Fulton to “take over operation of city prison farm in conjunction with an alcoholic rehabilitation program.” “The takeover idea came from Atlanta Mayor Sam Massell who said the 1952 Plan of Improvement gave the county the responsibility of health matters. Massell termed alcoholism an illness and said 85 to 90 per cent [sic] of the prisoners sent to farm are chronic alcoholics.”

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1971 — Report, "City Of Atlanta Prison Farm, Status Report" (4/26/1971) (source: Georgia Archives)

1971-1973 — Various Correspondence Re: Prison Farm, Governor Jimmy Carter, Mayor Sam Massell, et al (source: Georgia Archives)

1971 — “Prison Farm: Mayor Pushes For Center to Treat Addicts” (4/23/1971)

“Mayor Sam Massell repeated Thursday his proposal that the city prison farm be converted to a drug and alcohol treatment center and said objections that have been raised to the idea are ‘not satisfactory.’”

1971 — "On The Trail Of The Champion Robbers" (6/06/1971, Atlanta Journal and Constitution Magazine)

"Detectives believe they have solved one of Atlanta's most amazing cases." Feature story about veteran APD officer Lt. J.D. Hudson (see 10/23/1971) and his partner, Lt. Joe Amos, solving a wild robbery at a party the night of the Muhammad Ali-Jerry Quarry fight on October 26, 1970.

1971 — "24 TB Carriers Found At Farm" (8/05/1971)

♻️ 1971 — "South River Remains Health Hazard: Atlanta Still A Bridge Over Troubled Waters" (8/22/1971)

1971 — “Many Food Places Are Illegal” (9/19/1971)

Atlanta Prison Farm among list of places without health permits.

1971 — “Alcoholic Inmates See Red Over Watered Down Gravy” (10/06/1971)

Inmates strike over food again. This time over watered down gravy due to a lack of flour. But it was about more than that, of course. Inmates were reassured the farm would soon offer a “long-range treatment program” for alcoholics.

1971 — “Capt. Hudson: Third Black Heads City Department” (10/23/1971, also see 1949, 1971-1990, 2004-2009)

“Atlanta city government got its third back department head Friday when Mayor Sam Massell named newly promoted Police Capt. J.D. (John David Hudson) to head the sprawling City Prison Farm.” 

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1972 — “City Prison Farm Employee Is Suspended” (4/22/1972)

Employee Claude Cantrell left keys in his truck, and it was stolen by prisoners to escape.

1972 — “Can Respect Keep Men Out of Jail? Prison Chief Says ‘Yes’” (7/23/1972)

Profile of new prison farm superintendent J.D. Hudson, a 22-year police veteran, who was appointed nine months prior in 1971.

1972 — “Fulton Asks New Powers” (1/08/1972)

Fulton County asks to run prisons, among other items. "In the request for a single local prison agency, another constitutional amendment would be needed for the county government to operate the Atlanta prison farm, which is located in Dekalb."

1972 — “Reforms Begin At Prison Farm” (2/16/1972)

1972 — “Training Set For Prison Officials” (2/17/1971)

Funded by the Atlanta Regional Commission.

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1973 — "2 GSU Students Get Jailed As Winos To Study Conditions" (5/17/1973)

1973 — Item, "In Addition" (6/03/1973)

📍1973 — "Mrs. Ford Is 1st Black Warden" (6/09/1973)

Not specific to the city prison farm but notable history. "Mrs. E. Laverne Ford Friday became the first black warden in the history of Georgia's state prison system."

1973 — “Public Offender Drunks Labeled ‘Scums of the Earth” (8/04/1973, Atlanta Voice)

“King of the Winos,” Wayne Wilson, accuses APD of harassment.

1973 — “Center For Alcoholics In Area Is Studied” (8/09/1973)

"The City of Atlanta and Fulton and Dekalb counties have joined together with the aim of establishing an alcoholic treatment center that would treat problem drinkers from both counties....Both (Jack) Sartain and (Tim Mitchell) indicated that any joint project shared by Atlanta and the two counties would include use of the city's Key Road Prison Farm and the former Veteran's Administration Hospital on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard. The prison farm is owned and operated by the city, while Dekalb purchased the hospital grounds and building from the federal government. Both facilities are located in Dekalb. The prison farm lies in the portion of Atlanta which is in Dekalb." 

1973 — “‘Dear Maynard’: Retain Officials, Massell Asks” (11/06/1973)

Sam Massell brings up negotiations for state to take over prison farm on Key Rd. but ultimately did not like the state's offer to run the city prison. 

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1974 — “Jails Are A Headache Nobody Wants” / "Atlanta Ready For A Change" / "New Jail Chief 'Frustrated  Social Worker'" / "Nation's Police Getting Out Of City Detention Business" (5/02/1974)

APD will no longer run the insides of jails but will still maintain administrative authority over them. A new city Bureau of Corrections forms, and J.D. Hudson is appointed director of the city jail as well as the city prison farm. 

1974 — "Police Woman Planted on VOICE Staff" (5/11/1974, Atlanta Voice)

1974 — "Grand Jury Presentments" (5/05/1974)

"Key Road Police Training buildings" are mentioned, because this was once where the Atlanta Police Academy trained. The police firing range on Key Road has been in operation since the late 1940s.

1974 — “State Buys 40 Acres for Prison” (6/28/1974)

This site is a Department of Corrections facility on Constitution Avenue not far from the city prison farm, and today is situated near two other small correctional facilities, and is close to Constitution Lakes Park.

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1975 —  "City Prisoner Found Hanged After Pleading For Seclusion" (1/30/1975)

1975 — "Jails Crammed, Steaming, Wait / Prisoners Tense In Their Stench / Jail Officials Fear Violence" (3/02/1975)

 1975 — “Jail Facelifting?/Finance Panel Votes $222,000 To Remove ‘Dilapidated’ Jail” (6/13/1975)

“Councilman Richard Guthman did not quarrel with the need to upgrade the jail. But he argued that jail use should be phased out in favor of heavier use of the city prison farm on Key Road....Deputy Police Director C.H. Childers has suggested that public drunks be taken directly to Key Road, bypassing the usual processing through the jail, Guthman said.”

1975 — “Whiskey, The Warden And Work Release” (6/28/1975, Atlanta Voice)

"She is 50 years old and black. Her arrest record began many years ago, but from November 1967 to March 1974 she was in and out of the Atlanta Prison Farm at least once every month. In the last 14 months she has been back only twice...." Article about rehabilitation of alcoholic female inmates with with help of many agencies/groups and programs.

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1976 — “Life On The Farm: ‘Many of Our Drunks Leave Here After Breakfast And Are Back By Supper…’” (5/21/1976)

1976 — "'Gross Intimidation And Hounding': High Ranking Jail Officer Resigns Post" (7/15/1976)

1976 — “Gibson Clears Jail Director” (7/20/1976)

“No evidence of wrongdoing” found against city jail director J.D. Hudson, who also oversees the city prison farm (see above article).

1976 — "New President, Sister Judith Schloegel" (11/25/1976) (The Georgia Bulletin, Archdiocese of Atlanta)

1976 — "Didn't Report What She Knew: Guard Feared Jail Sex Case Coverup" (12/14/1976)

1976 — “Incidents Spark Move: Mayor Wants Jail Returned To Eaves” (12/16/1976)

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1977 — "Parish Activities" (3/31/1977, The Georgia Bulletin, Archdiocese of Atlanta)

1977 — "A Priest And A Nun Look At Their Roles In Prison Ministry" (4/28/1977, The Georgia Bulletin, Archdiocese of Atlanta)

1977 — "Martin Luther King, Jr. Center Internship Program" (5/01/1977, Spelman Spotlight)

1977 — “George Williams, Jr., One Man Against the System” (6/18/1977, Atlanta Voice)

1977 — “50 Years Ago” (7/17/1977)

“A sunflower 14½ inches in diameter was raised on the city dairy farm. Construction Chief William H. Hansell, under whose department the farm is operated, shows theflower to Mayor Ragsdale." — (1927)

1977 — "Prison Death Brings Lawsuit Against City" (7/26/1977)

"The suit claims a group of laughing prisoners sprayed Horton on Jan. 13, 1975, with a substance later determined to be Sulfotep, an organic phosphate chemical used in delousing the clothes of prisoners coming into the city stockade. The chemical's generic name is tetraethyldothiospyrophosphate, and it is similar to a nerve gas used in World War I."

1977 — "Letters To The Editor: Retraction" (8/13/1977, Atlanta Voice)

📍1977 — "State Names Black Warden" (11/12/1977)

Not specific to the city prison farm but, again, notable history. Elie Jones, 39, becomes the first Black male warden in Georgia and takes over at the Stone Mountain Correctional Institution. The state long operated a prison camp branch at Stone Mountain Park, and it last went by the name Stone Mountain Correctional Institution (more on this soon).

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1978 — "3 Metro Counties Considered For 2 Prisons" (4/09/1978)

"State officials are ready to begin construction in May on a fifth prison, a 400-bed men's prison to be located on Constitution Avenue in south Dekalb County, near the Atlanta City Prison at 561 Key Road S.E. It should be completed by 1980." 

1978 — "Report Due On Prisoner's Death" (5/03/1978)

1978 — "Brown Gets Final Report In Prisoner Death Probe" (5/04/1978)

1978 — "Prison Farm Death: 2 Guards May Be Suspended" (5/16/1978)

1978 — “When You ‘Drop Your Bike’/Serious Injury Is Common For Police On Cycles, And Survival Is Mostly Luck/Bike Squad Does No-Perks, Tough Duty” (6/20/1978)

“Another officer, Clyde J. Elsberry, was killed on July 9, 1955, when a prisoner escaping from the Atlanta work farm on Key Road crashed into his bike.”

1978 — "Copping A Diploma / Atlanta Police Recruits Training To Stay Alive" (9/01/1978)

Feature on the "Atlanta Police Bureau training academy off Key Road." The APD was previously the APB, Atlanta Police Bureau.

1978 — "Letter Prompts Probe: Investigators Eye Jail Boss Hudson" (10/05/1978)

1978 — "Hudson Cleared By Probe" (12/14/1978)

1979 — "Employee Tops City Lawsuit / Man Acts As Own Lawyer, Gets $30,000 In Damages" (4/10/1979)

1979 — "Judge Opposes City War On Drunks" (8/06/1979)

1980 — “Jail Guard Charged In Inmate Beating” (2/23/1980)

Correctional officer Roy Dawson is indicted for beating inmate Eddie Gene Hunter and is accused of attempted bribery of two witnesses. Dawson did not lose his job.

1980 — "Funding For Fulton Alcoholic Aid Plan In Jeopardy" (2/11/1980)

1981 — "Police Are Probing Death Of Prisoner" (3/20/1981)

1981 — "Guard Shoots Guard In Spat At City Prison Farm" (4/08/1981)

1981 — “Jackson Outlines Anti-Poverty Program For Atlanta” (8/05/1981)

 1981 — “$14 Million City Jail Dedicated” (10/03/1981) (see 1982, 1983, re: Pre-Trial Detention Center)

1981 — “Food Co-Op Gets Under Way Under EOA Direction” (10/16/1981)

Anti-poverty agency, Economic Opportunity Atlanta (EOA) "signed lease with city for 50 acres of the Key Road City Prison Farm that EOA staff members will use to grow food for the cooperative.”

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1982 — "Inmate Complaints Get Results" (1/24/1982)

1982 — "Atlanta And Dekalb SWAT Exercise" (5/13/1982)

SWAT simulation held at Atlanta Police Academy on Key Road. Such SWAT training still takes place there.

 1982 — “After Delays For 2 Years, Jail Opening Still Not Set” (8/30/1982, three photos)

Re: City of Atlanta Pre-Trial Detention Center, which ultimately opens in 1983.

1982 — “A Last Chance: But Prison Farm’s Unit For Alcoholics Isn’t Without Critics” (10/23/1982, two photos)

Public Inebriate Program stirs controversy about effectiveness and social costs. ACLU alleges inhumane treatment, leg irons, “motivational therapy” (i.e. solitary confinement cell).

1982 — “ACLU Sues City, Attacks Prison Farm’s Conditions” (11/25/1982)

1982 — “Keep The Heat On Prisons” (11/30/1982, editorial by Atlanta Constitution editors)

1982 — “‘Slave labor’ Gone at Prison Farm, But Inmates Still Tend Cattle, Hogs” (12/22/1982)

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1983 — “Garden Yields Hope For Poor” (4/17/1983, see 1981 above EOA)

♻️ 🚔 1983 — "Legal Notice" (7/31/1983)

Dangerous chemicals used at Police Academy Demolition Range on Key Road.

🚔 1983 — "New Detention Center A 'State-Of-Art Prison'" (1/06/1983; re: Pre-Trial Detention Center opening)

1983 — “Jailhouse Blues/Atlanta’s Top Jailer Under Fire” (11/11/1983)

1984 — "Seminarians Study Ethics, Politics / Emory Students Get Close-Up Look At Government" (10/13/1984)

Emory students do ethics research at the city prison farm.

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1985 — “City Agrees to $4,500 Settlement With Former Prison Farm Inmates” (3/31/1985)

🚔 1985 — "Metro Digest: $3 Million In Donations Sought For Police Academy" (4/04/1985, also see 1992)

 1985 — “Only Memories Locked Up In City Jail” (6/02/1985)

See 1934, 1935, 1982, 1983 above re: PWA jail built in downtown Atlanta at Decatur and Butler Streets which was later demolished.

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1987 — “Council Rejects Jail Contract With Firm Cited in Probe” (5/05/1987)

“The Atlanta City Council rejected a contract Monday for building 20 cells at the Atlanta Prison Farm, responding to allegations that the construction firm had devised a scheme to obtain a $7.8 million job from the city... T&B Scottdale set up phony subcontract with Red Star Contracting Co. in 1985, etc.”

1987 — “Immunity Helps City Fend Off Odd Claims” (7/20/1987)

“In another case, a Pennsylvania man was driving near the city-owned work farm on Key Road one Saturday night when his car collided with a black cow that had escaped the farm through a fence.”

1987 — “Metro Report: 8 Inmates Flee City Prison Farm On Key Road” (9/24/1987)

1987 — “Metro Report: 1 of 8 Atlanta Farm Escapees Is Recaptured” (9/26/1987)

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1988 — “Anti-Abortionists Plan More Protests” (7/29/1988)

“Meanwhile, 96 of the 134 protesters arrested at an Atlanta clinic last week remained in custody at the County [sic] Prison Farm on Key Road Thursday, using the aliases Baby Jane Doe and Baby John Doe…”

1988 — "'Operation Rescue' Arrests Now Total 594" (8/18/1988, The Southern Cross, Archdiocese of Savannah)

1988 — “Anti-abortion Protestors Mistreated, Lawyer Says” (8/24/1988)

1988 — "Operation Rescue To Open Atlanta Base Of Operation" (9/01/1988, The Southern Cross, Archdiocese of Savannah)

1988 — "Council Panel Hits Police Conduct During Abortion Demonstrations" (10/12/1988)

1990 — “Audit: City Money Diverted to Corrections Fund” (2/20/1990)

“The Atlanta Corrections Bureau improperly spent thousands of public dollars that were diverted into a special fund controlled by embattled Director J.D. Hudson, according to city finance officials. Money that should have gone into the city treasury was funneled to the Corrections Officers Benevolent Fund for at least five years and possibly as long as 14 years, said the officials, who requested anonymity.” Cigarette vending machines at prison and city-owned housing at prison also implicated.

1990 — “Hudson Quits Amid Probe, May Run For Sheriff” (4/19/1990)

1990 —  “City Report Links Ex-Corrections Director, Female Employee” (5/01/1990)

J.D. Hudson, retired Director of the Atlanta Prison Farm (also appointed Corrections Director in 1974 by Mayor Maynard Jackson) accused of special favors for a female sergeant, Sgt. Jacqueline Taylor, including free housing on the prison farm site (six such city-owned houses were on the property at this time; also see 1966, 1967 housing scandals).

1990 —  “Prison Farm, Stock To Be Sold” (8/25/1990)

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1991 — "Public Notice" (9/14/1991)

Atlanta Prison Farm being considered for use as a landfill. This did not happen because of a law preventing lateral placement of landfills in an area.

🚔 1992 — "Ribbon Cut On Police Training Facility / Academy Dedicated To Late Chief Jenkins" (10/24/1992)

New academy located at 180 Southside Industrial Parkway, former site of Harper Elementary School. "All academic training will be conducted at the facility, which opened six months ago and takes the place of mobile homes at the old academy on Key Road." 

As of 2021, the APD Police Training Academy is currently located at 180 Southside Industrial Parkway and was previously located on Key Road. The Atlanta Police Pistol Range, first opened at downtown police headquarters in 1940 and moved to Key Road in the late 1940s, and is currently still located on Key Road and continues to generate residential noise complaints (see 4/08/2019). 

1992 — "Atlanta City Council: Large Landfill Will Be Closed By October '93 / Neighborhood Cheers Decision" (12/22/1992)

1993 — "William Orten Carlton = ORT." (6/23/1923, The Flagpole, Athens)

The legendary Out mentioned the Atlanta Prison Farm, so I had to include it.

1994 —  “Jail OK’d For Youths Tried As Adults" (12/14/1994, see below)

Atlanta Prison Farm site okayed for Department of Children and Youth Services (DCYS) youth detention facility (but it was struck down in 1995, see below).

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1995 — “New Detention Center Won’t Be Built In Southeast Atlanta (Sylvan Hills)” (1/25/1995)

Dept. of Children and Youth Services (DCYS) “rescinded the agency’s decision to locate a new Fulton County detention center next to Lakewood MARTA station” near the Sylvan Hills neighborhood. Then DCYS eyed building the center on Key Road, but on April 17, 1995, the Atlanta City Council voted to donate land on Constitution Road, also in Southeast Atlanta, not far from the prison farm, to the DCYS board to build the youth facility.

1995 — "Welcome to 'Hotel 254' / New Atlanta Jail" (2/04/1995, Atlanta Voice)

New Atlanta City Detention Center ("ACDC") opens on February 1, 1995, at 254 Peachtree St. In 2019, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms signed controversial legislation to close ACDC. Some groups want to see it closed and prepared a report. There is a looming concern the city will circle back around to placing a detention center on the former site of the old city prison farm near the proposed Public Safety Training Facility.

1995 — "Battle Brewing Over Site For Juvenile Facility" (3/09/1995)

Residents protest proposed DCYS facility being built on the site of the former city prison farm on Key Road.

1995 — "Youth Prison Population At Issue /DCYS Board Weighs How To Make Room For Growing Numbers" (4/26/1995)

The board "agreed to accept land on Constitution Avenue in Southeast Atlanta [sic] to build a new jail to replace the Fulton County juvenile detention center. The Atlanta City Council voted April 17 to contribute the property, which is adjacent to a Department of Corrections facility in Dekalb County."

1996 — Item, “Your Government: City of Atlanta: Why Prison Farm?” (11/23/1996, "Atlanta Voice")

“Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell rejects the idea that Atlanta’s homeless should go to the city prison farm to live in new housing and receive services. There’s already enough housing available. We have a backlog of people who want to live in public housing,” Mayor Campbell told Atlanta’s Black Press in his recent session with them. “You have to be careful of putting the homeless out of sight and out of mind. The proposal for the homeless-exclusive prison farm comes from Atlanta City Council President Marvin S. Arrington, who intends to challenge Campbell in next year’s elections.”

1998 — “Police Blotter” (5/28/1998)

Woman raped in abandoned house across from prison farm on May 7, 1998. (Key Road)

2002 — "Historic Prison Farm Could Rebloom As Park" (12/23/2002)

2004 — "Carjack Suspect Shot By Victim / Retired Officer Is Wounded In Shootout" (9/25/2004)

J.D. Hudson  fatally shoots a suspect that attempted to rob him at home in his driveway. 

2004 — "'Chicken Man' and the cop" (11/04/2004, Creative Loafing)

2005 — "John Davis Hudson Interview"  (length: 1:47:38, Atlanta History Center)

2009 — J.D. Hudson passes away (obituary)

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2019 — "Firing Range Irks These Neighbors" (4/08/2019)