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The Old Atlanta Prison Farm is an abandoned city-owned prison complex in southeast Dekalb county, Georgia, USA. The farm was worked by prisoners to produce food for the prison system from approximately 1920 until about 1990. There are limited historical records detailing operation of the farm, especially after about 1965.

The prison farm is part of the South River Forest, a 3,500 green space inside the Atlanta perimeter that conservationists have been working to protect since 2000. A controversial police training facility that political opponents have dubbed 'cop city' was approved for construction on the site of the prison farm in September 2021. Opponents say the project is an example of environmental racism and have opposed that project by occupying the forest around the prison farm, leading to several conflicts with Atlanta police. The area is also threated by development from the film industry.

History and farm operation
The Atlanta Prison Farm operated beginning in about 1920 and saw its heaviest production during the 1950s, when it was called 'Honor Farm'. In 1959, the farm produced 880 tons of food and generated $115,000 in profit for the prison system. Products included pork, vegetables and milk.

A 1999 historical analysis of the prison farm by Jillian Wooten from the Atlanta city planning department states that the farm was owned and operated as a federal prison from 1918 to 1965 when it was acquired by the City of Atlanta. In 2021, the Atlanta Community Press Collective analyzed city and press archives, and they concluded that Wooten's 1999 report conflates three different properties used by prison systems in Atlanta, and that the prison farm was never federally owned. Wooten's report describes the farm as a relatively low-security establishment for non-violent offenders from its inception until the city's acquisition of the farm in 1965, after which there are limited records. The 2021 report found evidence of, "systemic abuse, torture, overcrowding, neglect, and racialized violence throughout the prison farm’s history, as well as the possibility that unmarked graves of prisoners exist on the grounds."

Wooten found that the prison farm should be listed on the National Register of Historic Places and recommended that it be preserved as a "valuable, environmentally rich and historic place".

Stokely Carmichael was briefly held there as a political prisoner during the civil rights movement.

South River Forest
The South River Forest is a 3500 acre green space that contains the old Atlanta prison farm and that conservationists and some residents would like to protect. Atlanta has the largest tree canopy of any major US city and is known as the 'city in the forest'. Scientists say that the city's tree cover is its best defense against climate change. The South River Forest coalition and the South River Watershed Alliance have filed lawsuits against development projects that threaten the forest. These developments include a controversial police training facility and a controversial land-swap between the city and the film indrusty.

Police training facility and controversy
In September 2021, the city approved plans to build a police training facility on the site of the old prison farm. The vote was contested and had to be delayed to make time for over 17 hours of public comment, most of which opposed the development. The $90 million training facility is partially funded by the city and partially by the Atlanta Police Foundation (APF).

In order to prevent construction of the facility, forest defenders have built encampments, tree-sits, and blockades to block entry of construction teams and police. There have been confrontations between police and forest defenders or protestors, leading to multiple arrests.

Forest defenders have discussed the APF development in the context of settler-colonialism and environmental racism. They oppose the project in part because of ongoing complaints against the Atlanta police department for police brutality in the context of the George Floyd protests and the Black Lives Matter movement. Opponents say that construction of the police training facility will lead to increased police brutality, and particularly object to the placement of the facility on the site of alleged human rights violations associated with the prison farm. They also note that the proposed facility is larger than similar projects owned by other large US cities.

The city says that the training facility is necessary to fight rising crime and that the old prison farm is the only feasible site. Supporters say the facility would help with police recruitment and retention. They also say the development includes plans for green space.