MONROE - The Green County jail got so full in April the Green County Sheriff's Department was forced to send five inmates to Iowa County for 10 days.
"We were full but they kept coming in," said Sheriff Jeff Skatrud.
Renting overflow cell space at the jail in Iowa County cost $50 per day, per inmate, bringing the total cost to $2,500. This doesn't include the work hours consumed by organizing the transfer and transport of inmates.
Skatrud reported on the jail overflow at a Green County Law Enforcement and Public Safety meeting Wednesday, May 9.
The Green County jail has room for 68 inmates, but the jail usually reaches capacity at a lower number due to rules against mixing genders or mixing sentenced inmates and presentenced inmates.
The jail's daily average population in April was 57. Skatrud said the jail population hasn't been this large since 2010. It's also been a couple of years since Green County has had to rent cell space elsewhere.
The jail sent its best-behaved, healthiest inmates to Iowa County as a neighborly gesture, he said: "They'd do the same for us."
Skatrud couldn't explain the rise in jail population. "We don't know. It spiked," he said. But it's something he anticipates the jail will "have to struggle with until further notice."
- Katjusa Cisar
"We were full but they kept coming in," said Sheriff Jeff Skatrud.
Renting overflow cell space at the jail in Iowa County cost $50 per day, per inmate, bringing the total cost to $2,500. This doesn't include the work hours consumed by organizing the transfer and transport of inmates.
Skatrud reported on the jail overflow at a Green County Law Enforcement and Public Safety meeting Wednesday, May 9.
The Green County jail has room for 68 inmates, but the jail usually reaches capacity at a lower number due to rules against mixing genders or mixing sentenced inmates and presentenced inmates.
The jail's daily average population in April was 57. Skatrud said the jail population hasn't been this large since 2010. It's also been a couple of years since Green County has had to rent cell space elsewhere.
The jail sent its best-behaved, healthiest inmates to Iowa County as a neighborly gesture, he said: "They'd do the same for us."
Skatrud couldn't explain the rise in jail population. "We don't know. It spiked," he said. But it's something he anticipates the jail will "have to struggle with until further notice."
- Katjusa Cisar