Mitzi Bickers leaves the Richard B. Russell federal courthouse in Atlanta, Sept. 8, 2022. She was sentenced to 14 years in prison for her role in the Atlanta City Hall contract bribery scandal. She will wear an ankle monitor and is on house arrest until she reports to prison. Her attorneys say they will appeal to the U.S. Eleventh Circuit. Credit: Robin Kemp/The Clayton Crescent

Former CCSO Chief of Staff, political campaign guru, and convicted felon Mitzi Bickers will start serving her 14-year federal prison sentence on November 8, according to a federal court filing.

However, Bickers will not be serving in Alabama’s FCI Aliceville, as she had requested. Instead, she will report to FCI Marianna in Marianna, FL. Marianna is a medium-security prison and houses both men and women. Aliceville is a low-security prison for women only. Both prisons include “an adjacent minimum security satellite camp.”

Low. vs. medium security federal prisons

According to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons:

“Low security Federal Correctional Institutions (FCIs) have double-fenced perimeters, mostly dormitory or cubicle housing, and strong work and program components. The staff-to-inmate ratio in these institutions is higher than in minimum security facilities.

“Medium security FCIs (and USPs designated to house medium security inmates) have strengthened perimeters (often double fences with electronic detection systems), mostly cell-type housing, a wide variety of work and treatment programs, an even higher staff-to-inmate ratio than low security FCIs, and even greater internal controls.”

This is the week that suspended Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill stands trial in federal court on seven counts of violating the rights of pretrial detainess under color of law, leading some observers to speculate that Bickers might be called as a witness. The Clayton Crescent has not independently verified whether Bickers will testify.

Still at Lake Spivey

Meanwhile, Bickers, whose lakeside McMansion was seized by U.S. Marshals, is still at Lake Spivey—working at the Lake Spivey Golf Club, as several sources have told The Clayton Crescent in the past couple of weeks. Cellphone video, since removed from social media, showed Bickers walking through the shot during the Women of Clayton County investiture, apologizing, and ducking. Also spotted at the club was Bickers’ wife, Keyla Jackson, the sole owner of Pirouette Companies, who sources tell The Clayton Crescent is involved in the club’s operation.

Former CCSO Chief of Staff Mitzi Bickers walks through the Women of Clayton County’s investiture ceremony at the Lake Spivey Golf Club, Sept, 26, 2022. Bickers has been working at the clubhouse at least since her sentencing to 14 years in prison on federal corruption charges related to the Atlanta City Hall bribery scandal. Bickers must wear an ankle monitor and is allowed to work until the federal Bureau of Prisons calls her to serve her sentence. (Screen capture: Facebook)

A check of corporate filings shows the club is owned by a series of companies linked to Rev. C. Harrison Braddy, who was present at Bickers’ sentencing and who told The Clayton Crescent that Bickers had asked him to serve as her spiritual advisor because her pastor was in the hospital. A weekend campaign stop for Sen. Raphael Warnock that had been scheduled for the Lake Spivey Golf Club was moved at the last minute to Jamrock South’s new Tara Boulevard location. District 1 Commissioner Alieka Anderson, whose campaign paid Pirouette for get-out-the-vote efforts, has scheduled a golf tournament at the club, which she says will benefit law enforcement.

Other events have featured Jackson’s N’Dure vanity wine label and a watch party for MTV’s “Love and Hip Hop,” in which Braddy appears. N’Dure Enterprises, LLC was incorporated at The UPS Store at 2870 Peachtree Road in Atlanta on August 19, 2014 and at a virtual office address in Jackson, MS in December 15, 2014. That was the year Bickers ran Jackson mayoral candidate Toby Yarber’s campaign, then allegedly tried to influence a city official, Stephanie Coleman, in June 2015 over bidding to replace Jackson’s antiquated sewer system and to build a convention center hotel. Bickers was indicted on the Jackson matter but not convicted.

Under the terms of her sentencing, Bickers is to wear an ankle monitor and serve house arrest, meaning she may leave only for work, church, education, meetings with her legal team, and medical appointments. U.S. Marshals seized Bickers’ Lake Spivey home, which federal prosecutors said she had bought with bribe money. A tug-of-war ensued over the property between the U.S. government and Anytime Bail Bonding. A reliable source told The Clayton Crescent that U.S. Marshals have since claimed the property.


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Robin Kemp is executive editor and CEO of The Clayton Crescent, which she founded in 2020. She has worked for Gambit, CNN, The Weather Channel, Clayton News, Henry Herald, and numerous freelance outlets....

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