Proclamations on agendas of county boards are usually a fairly quiet event. At Tuesday's Ramsey County Board meeting, Sheriff Bob Fletcher joined the chorus praising corrections officers for their service.
Then he sounded an alarm. It's still spring, he said, but the jail is already nearly full.
"Our population, as of this date, is up 140 over last year. There was a day in April where we only had 19 empty beds," he said. "And April is usually not as high as July and August."
While Fletcher attributed some of the increase to lower jail populations during the pandemic, he attributed much of the crowding to the jail being used to house people who should be held someplace else.
He told commissioners that there are 40 inmates who have behavioral health or chemical dependency issues "that need special housing."
Another 40 inmates are mentally ill or cognitively impaired — called Rule 20 — and should be detained someplace else, Fletcher said.
"No one in our business really wants people with mental illness, mental health issues, to be housed in our jail facility," he said.
Another 20 are waiting to go to state facilities.
