COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — El Paso County Sheriff Bill Elder says the county jail in southeast Colorado is bursting at the seams after the inmate population surged to a record high of nearly 1,800 last week.
Staff is pulling additional beds from other county facilities and squeezing them into jammed living spaces. Assaults are becoming more frequent among inmates and on deputies. Some inmates are sent to other jails around the state.
And Detention Bureau Chief Mitch Lincoln tells The Gazette (http://bit.ly/2vtOhhz ) that for the first time the jail is as close to having to turn away new inmates.
The jail takes inmates from seven municipalities, including Colorado Springs.
The jail was expanded in 2005 at a cost of $55 million, but Lincoln says other solutions are needed other than just adding more beds.
