COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – The numbers keep growing, as the Branch County Sheriff’s Department and the courts keep track of the growing number of inmates at the Branch County Jail. This as the county is dealing with the first jail overcrowding emergency of 2015.
Since Monday, when the prisoner population was 158, thirty people have been booked into the jail, including 9 more on Thursday, and this morning, the number of inmates is the same as when the work week started. The jail is rated to hold only 142 prisoners. However, for the past 16 straight days, it’s officially been beyond capacity. The courts were notified a week ago today. The judges will observe to see if the situation will more or less rectify itself with fewer arrests the rest of this month or whether they’ll have to order an early release of some inmates with sentence reductions or by reducing bond.
There were four overcrowding emergencies declared in 2014 when early releases happened on three occasions.
