COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – 14 female prisoners from the Branch County jail are scheduled to be transferred today to the Calhoun County jail. Branch County Sheriff John Pollack says the move will help ease their overcrowding emergency as well as address the chronic issue of far too many female inmates behind bars in a facility that wasn’t designed for the usual two dozen or more women that are locked up in the jail. Pollack announced his plans at yesterday’s work meeting of the Branch County Board of Commissioners.
It’s estimated that the transfer could cost the county as much as $6,000 a month if that many females had to stay that long with Calhoun County. The jail in Coldwater located in the former Maple Lawn Medical Care facility since 1989 was remodeled to hold just 12 females. On one day last month, there were 35 female inmates and that number has averaged between 25 and 30 for much of this year.
Pollack said they are using their maximum security cells to try and spread out the female population. That in turn, according to the Sheriff, restricts his ability to protect the prisoners in the general population from the more violent inmates. Pollack said the situation exists when the jail is understaffed because of vacancies not yet filled because of training requirements with two corrections officers on long term medical leave as well.
The jail is design rated for 142 inmates and has consistently exceeded that number for the last 3 months, being as high as 164 in July. County Commissioners indicated yesterday that they are leaning in support of attempting to prepare a millage proposal in time to go on the ballot in August of next year to fund construction of a new jail.
