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Last updated on Friday, September 23, 2016
(UNDATED) - The Greene County Commissioners will be looking into options to help with overcrowding issues at the county jail.
Sabrina Stockrahm of the Greene County Daily World reports that Sheriff Mike Hasler went before the commissioners Tuesday morning to discuss the ongoing issues with overcrowding due to a recent change in sentencing guidelines, which is sending more offenders to serve their time locally rather than at the Department of Corrections.
The jail is an 84-bed facility. Last week the inmate county reach 94.
As soon as some are released more are arrested or sentenced to spend their time at the county jail.
Another issue is the jail is seeing an increase in female offenders. The county has 16 beds for female inmates and has recently surpassed that capacity with 21 females in custody.
Hasler is looking into purchasing cots to cover the needed bed space. The commissioners asked if it was possible to send the inmates to another facility.
In terms of cost, Hasler told the commissioners when county inmate numbers were low he could to house DOC inmates earning $35 a day. After the new sentencing structure was put into place, a DOC representative offered to house inmates for $70 a day. If he were to send inmates to another county jail, he would incur that $35 a day fee, plus transportation costs to get the inmate to and from court. The problem is other county jails are facing the same issue of overcrowding and have no openings for inmates.
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