The Georgia Jail Association (GJA) named City of Atlanta Department of Corrections (DOC) Chief Patrick Labat the 2019 Detention Administrator of the Year. GJA honored Chief Labat at its annual awards banquet Wednesday at the Unicoi State Park and Lodge in Helen, GA. The Detention Administrator of the Year Award is presented to an individual administrator for demonstrating or possessing leadership skills, providing training opportunities for staff, meeting detention facility standards, implementing new programs and for distinguished years of service in the corrections field. This is the second time in five years Chief Labat has earned this distinction. He was also named Detention Administrator of the Year by GJA in 2015.

“I am deeply honored to be recognized by my peers at the Georgia Jail Association with this prestigious award,” said Chief Labat. “The Atlanta City Detention Center has faced a number of operational changes over the past year, yet time after time our department continues to rise to the occasion of serving the City of Atlanta at the absolute highest level beyond the walls of the jail. This award is a reminder that we must always remain resolute in our commitment to provide exemplary customer service to those individuals who find themselves in our care and custody, and to ensure the safety and security of detainees and our staff at all times.”

“Chief Labat has been an integral member of the Georgia Jail Association, and this award is very fitting in light of his steadfast leadership and dedication to our industry,” said GJA President Captain Bruce Bley, Barrow County Sheriff’s Office.  “His ability to forge partnerships with his peers and other law enforcement entities and reach positive collaborative outcomes have made him an invaluable asset to his department as well as the Georgia Jail Association.”

Chief Labat is responsible for the overall operation and direction of the Atlanta City Detention Center (ACDC), Grady Hospital Detention Center and Atlanta Municipal Court Detention Center with 225 employees of which 155 are sworn correctional officers. The Atlanta DOC became accredited by the American Correctional Association (ACA) in 2010 and was subsequently reaccredited with perfect scores of 100 in 2013, 2016 and 2019. Upon completion of the department’s recent 2019 ACA reaccreditation audit, Atlanta DOC scored 100 percent on the 60 mandatory and 323 nonmandatory correctional standards, ranking it among the top five percent of detention facilities in the United States. The Atlanta DOC has also consistently scored 100 on its Fulton County Health and Food Service inspections.

In addition to his leadership as the City’s detention administrator, Chief Labat is committed to the community, including serving as co-founder of the Junior Corrections Officer Leadership Academy; creating the department’s annual Love Our City Community Improvement campaign where citizens are invited to submit cleanup requests that are completed by the department’s inmate work service program; serving approximately 150 local families and veterans during the department’s annual holiday food and toy drive; spearheading the operations of the City’s warming/cooling centers during emergency weather events; feeding 200 seniors twice a week; and managing the department’s food preparation of tens of thousands of meals for Hosea Helps (formerly Hosea Feed the Homeless) during the 2018 Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday season, as well as the 2019 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday.

Chief Labat also is the creator of the groundbreaking, nationally-recognized Preparing Adult Offenders to Transition through Training and Therapy (PAT3) reentry program — a program that allows eligible, non-violent, state inmates to be employed fulltime and earn wages at the City’s minimum salary of $14 per hour, while simultaneously, serving the remaining 12 to 18 months of their sentences at the State-recognized transitional center housed within the Atlanta City Detention Center. PAT3’s partners include the Georgia Department of Corrections, Atlanta Department of Watershed Management, Atlanta Department of Public Works and the Urban League of Greater Atlanta.

Chief Labat is a Peace Officer Standards and Training (P.O.S.T.) Certified Jailer and a P.O.S.T. Certified Mandated Peace Officer with more than 30 years of jail management, corrections administration and law enforcement experience. He was a member of the 2014 Leadership Atlanta class, 2012-2013 president of the Georgia Chapter of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE) and 2017-2018 GJA President.