On a sunny September day, Timothy Cosme prepares to walk out of the Fulton County Jail a free man.

He was transferred to the facility to complete a case that was pending after his release from prison.

“I just came from Jackson, so I still have my corrections pants,” Cosme said.

However, Cosme didn’t go that way.

The prison staff took a quick look at him before disappearing into a room in the back and returning with a brand new dark blue long sleeve polo shirt, khaki pants and black leather boots.

“It’s kind of cool to get something that I can probably eat at right away,” Cosme said. “My family is coming to pick me up, so it’s nice to be out of uniform and pick up some clothes.”

When Natalie Ammons started her job as spokesperson for the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office a little over a year ago, she quickly realized there was a need for people like Cosme.

“I was aware that sometimes when people are discharged, the clothing they come in with is not appropriate for discharge,” Ammons said.

“It may be because they were dirty, you know, just dirty. They could have been wet, but there were various reasons. We also get people from Grady (Memorial Hospital) and they come in just a gown, and when it’s time for them to be discharged, it’s a challenge to discharge them in something clean and warm.”

So Ammons approached Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labat with the idea of ​​working with the Atlanta-based nonprofit Caring For Others, where she had volunteered for several years, and they all agreed.

“I was with the team here at the jail and they designated this area,” she said, pointing through a room behind a squeaky security door on the right side of the Fulton County Jail. “There were a few filing cabinets and miscellaneous things here, but they cleaned everything out and painted the floors. And then we got the first round of clothing from Caring for Others.”

The room is named “Ray of Hope” in memory of the nonprofit’s founder’s late husband, Ray Shockley, who was described as very sharply dressed.

Initially, the clothing items on offer were mostly sweatpants and hoodies, but today the space is mostly filled with suits and dressy clothes that you could wear to church, school, or even a job interview.

Ammons said there are also hats and accessories so people can leave prison feeling good.

“What I said was that this could potentially be the difference between them going out, reoffending again next week and coming right back, or never coming back here again just to be able to leave in something clean,” Ammons said.

Detention Officer Bridgett Dzah-Franks has overseen the room’s operations since it opened about six months ago.

“I had someone say, ‘I’m a size 12,'” Franks said. “No, you don’t. I put a 38×32 on him and it fit!”

Recently, Franks said she helped dress a man from head to toe for an accountability court hearing whose own clothes had become moldy.

“He was so grateful,” Franks said. “He said, ‘I’m fine.’ And to get that feeling – I get emotional – but to receive that at this point is inexplicable, but it’s so grateful. And as I tell everyone, I thank them for believing in me so that I could be a blessing to someone else.”

Crystal Khalil, CEO of Caring for Others, who was standing next to a clothing rack, stops Franks to thank her for the work she does.

“This is life-changing,” Khalil said, “because the energy is transferred and then (the inmates) go out and take that energy with them instead of leaving depressed, confused and frustrated.”

For Khalil, what matters most is the effect.

“If you can help just one person, that’s the most important thing,” she said. “But just knowing that they get some hope, because hope is missing, and I’m sure there is a deficit of hope here!”

The next step is for Ray of Hope to offer women’s clothing so that female prisoners can also return to the public without the added stigma of being former prisoners.

But for now, Cosme is just one of several inmates looking forward to leaving the Fulton County Jail and enjoying a meal with their family in their new clothes.