FULTON COUNTY, Ga. - A $1.1 billion capital improvement project to renovate the Fulton County Jail and add a new special-purpose building was approved by the Fulton County Commission.

What we know:

Fulton commissioners voted 4-1 to create a special-purpose facility that will house around 600 inmates who have mental health and medical needs and renovate the current Rice Street jail.

Chairman Robert Pitts says a national consulting firm helped to create this plan.

The new special-purpose facility for mental health and medical needs will be constructed on the Rice Street property.

The facility would take 5 years to build. The renovations to the Rice Street jail would happen after that.

Sheriff Patrick Labat wanted a new jail, but Pitts says the county could not afford a new jail and

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