COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – It’s still more than two months on the calendar before the start of summer when the Branch County jail usually gets very over-crowded, but it’s started already this spring with more than 2 dozen inmates booked in the last couple of days, pushing the lockup again beyond its rated capacity, which is 142 prisoners.
On Friday, the beginning inmate number was 149 while on Thursday it was 152. The Sheriff’s Department will be double checking the figures because unofficially, it’s been seven days in-a-row over capacity since last Friday. When it’s a week straight of overcrowding, they notify the courts to put them on notice of a pending overcrowding emergency.
They generally lower the prisoner population by reducing bonds or if necessary, the judges trim their sentences to allow for an early release. This year has already seen one emergency declaration that lasted 3 weeks in February.
