PORT ANGELES — The population of the ever-popular Clallam County jail dropped within a few bodies of capacity on Thursday, a feat Sheriff Joe Martin attributed to booking restrictions and an awareness on the part of judges, police and prosecutors.
The daily jail log had the number of inmates at 102 on Thursday.
Capacity is 96, but the 102 figure marks one of the lowest occupancy rates at the jail in months.
“It’s great, don’t get me wrong,” Martin said.
“But we’ve got to go through these cycles.”
The 102 figure still represents an overcrowded jail, but it’s much easier on jail staff and inmates than populations of 130, or 140, which have not been uncommon over past months.
“It’s manageable,” Martin said of the current population, adding that the number actually dropped into the 90s within the past week.
“When it starts to creep above that we start getting to the overcrowded stage.”
Church services return
Because the population has dropped, church services will again be available to inmates on Sundays.
The services are held in common areas, but as the population climbed inmates were being housed in those common areas and services were canceled.
As long as the numbers stay down, church services will be available, Martin said.
“That can change in a heartbeat,” Martin said.
He attributed the drop in the jail population to the combination of booking restrictions and also an awareness on the part of the local criminal justice system that the jail has been bursting at the seams.