El Paso County jail population reaches critical point

Overcrowding at the El Paso County Criminal Justice Center has been an issue for several years but Sheriff Bill Elder said the situation reached “a critical point” Tuesday.

Elder said the 1,717 inmates at the jail set a record high and the trend shows no sign of slowing.

Although the jail’s official capacity is 1,940 inmates, Elder said the current number makes the jail 100% full in an operational sense.

“Because we can’t put people in different areas to keep them and the staff safe,” he said. “I think we’ll see 1,800 inmates this summer. What concerns me is the stress level overcrowding creates, and the safety of not only inmates but our 539 jail staff.”

Elder cited an increase in female inmates — 355, 15 above capacity — and a longer average stay for inmates, as major factors in the overcrowding.

“We have 56 inmates waiting to serve their local sentences before they can move to prisons to serve state sentences,” he said. “But everyone else in here is serving sentences for local crimes. We don’t have room to hold inmates from other agencies as we used to.”

Elder also insists that the 35-year-old jail doesn’t need to be replaced — yet — with a new facility that could cost $100 million and require a tax increase to pay for it.

Much of the solution, Elder said, is in the hands of judges and the court system to move low-risk inmates through jail faster, and find other ways to deal with inmates who are homeless or mentally ill.

As many as 40% of inmates committed crimes while homeless or mentally ill, Elder said.

“We may think about having a night court,” he said. “I know there a plans to hire more judges and have more courtrooms, but the courthouse is pretty full right now.”

The Sheriff’s Office attended a workshop Tuesday to further discuss the matter and find possible solutions.