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Colo. jail to release 31 inmates early due to overcrowding

The releases are in response to a budget cut that forced officials to close an entire floor of the Jefferson County Detention Center earlier this year

Shelly Bradbury
The Denver Post

JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. — Thirty-one inmates will be released early from the Jefferson County Detention Center Sunday due to overcrowding at the jail after a $5.5 million budget cut forced officials to close an entire floor on Jan. 1.

It’s the first time since the closure that the jail has been forced to release inmates before they’ve finished their full sentences, the sheriff’s office said in a statement Sunday.

“Releasing inmates early, before they have completed their full sentence, is…not the message we want to send to criminals,” Sheriff Jeff Shrader said in the statement. “Unfortunately, it is the action we have to take to meet the budgetary constraints we are currently faced with, and to maintain a safe environment for those who are incarcerated and our employees who work in the jail.”

The jail closed its seventh floor on Jan. 1, which reduced the number of available beds from 1,392 to 1,148. Now, if the jail population rises above 1,171 inmates, then people must be released in order to prevent the jail from becoming too full.

The first step, the sheriff’s office said in the statement, is to release qualifying inmates who have served at least half their sentence. Inmates who have served the highest percentage of their sentence will be released first, according to the sheriff’s office.

People who must serve a particular minimum sentence under Colorado law can’t be released early, and neither can people who a judge has ordered not to be released early.

The seventh-floor closure — and accompanying cuts to jail staff through attrition — was brought about because the county is limited by the state’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, which requires local governments to return all tax money they collect above an amount calculated by a formula.

Jefferson County has returned tens of millions of dollars to its 600,000 residents over the last four years, which local leaders said is needed for services. Voters in November voted down a measure that would allow the county to keep the revenues beyond the TABOR formula.

In December, the sheriff’s office said it expects the early release of inmates to be the first of several measures necessary to reduce the jail’s population in the coming year. If the early release of inmates isn’t sufficient, the jail will next refuse to admit people arrested for most misdemeanors and low-level felonies, and if at that point the jail is still overcrowded, it may refuse to accept any new arrivals.

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