COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – Branch County Sheriff’s Department officials today moved 8 of their female inmates from the county jail in Coldwater to the Calhoun County Correctional facility. The action to relieve the overcrowding issue with the female prisoner population also occurred in August.
The female inmate count this week has been as high as 33 and was reduced today to 24 and they may transfer more prisoners to Calhoun County next week. The Branch County jail is not set up to incarcerate such a high number of female inmates with the former nursing home being remodeled when it opened as a jail in 1989 to hold just 14 female prisoners.
The women moved to the Calhoun County jail today have already all been sentenced and are serving time for crimes including fourth degree child abuse, assault and battery, breaking and entering, drunk driving and fraud. Branch County has used their maximum security cells to try and spread out the female population, which in turn, restricts their ability to protect the inmates in the general population from the more violent prisoners.
County commissioners have contracted with a jail consultant that’s preparing a study to recommend the best options for Branch County to address the situation with the likelihood of a millage proposal to appear on the August primary election ballot next year.
