The Marshall County Jail is still holding about 200 inmates, but efforts are being made to reduce that number.
Sheriff Matt Hassel told the Marshall County Commissioners on Monday morning that the inmate count was at 192 last week, but he doesn’t know how long that statistic will last.
“Our problem is not the people serving time it’s people waiting to go to trial, or they’re being held for a probation violation or failure to appear,” said Hassel.
Sheriff Hassel added that about 80 offenders are currently serving sentences through Marshall County Community Corrections in lieu of a jail stay which helps with the jail population. He said the numbers would be at a critical level if it wasn’t for community corrections.
“We are working with community corrections and the judges. We’re looking at the possibility of first offenders that are minor offenses that can’t pay bond and maybe move them out on community corrections or different programs like that. Like I said the bulk of the populations are awaiting trial.”
The jail currently houses 20 inmates waiting for DOC availability which causes the sheriff to look at numbers very closely.
“We’ve got 248 beds, but certain cells are included in that total that you don’t use. You don’t use the padded cell unless it’s a necessity and you don’t use the observation cell unless it’s a necessity. The two medical cells we don’t use those unless we need to. So, really we’re closer into the 230s.”
Sheriff Hassel will continue to work to keep the population at a comfortable operating level.
