Tompkins County public safety officials spent much of their July 22 meeting examining why the county jail’s population rose in recent months and what alternatives could reduce future incarceration. Chair Rich opened the discussion and asked staff and justice partners to return in August with numbers and analysis on several potential causes.

The issue matters because the county’s 82‑bed jail is operating near common planning targets. “Our 82 bed capacity — they like us to stay at around 80%. That puts at 65.6. So when you look at it from that perspective, we're close,” Captain Harrison said. Sheriff (name not specified) told the committee the population had stabilized “for the last few days at 63, between 63 and 64.”

Committee members and staff identified multiple candidate explanations they want quantified: a temporary cluster of violent cases tied to a gun‑crime investigation (referred to in the meeting as the GIVE investigation), the number of “state‑ready” inmates awaiting transfer to state custody when state intake paused earlier this year, people with serious untreated mental illness who remain in jail because long‑term psychiatric placements are unavailable, and people with active substance‑use disorders who might be diverted to a detox or crisis‑stabilization facility if one existed locally.

Sheriff (name not specified) and Captain Harrison described operational strain even at current levels: the jail’s aging layout reduces the ability to separate inmates for discipline, medical isolation or specialized programming, and staff cited a need for additional space for medical and behavioral‑health treatment, medication‑assisted treatment and program delivery. The sheriff said the jail earlier housed as many as 15 inmates outside the facility when state readies and transfers backed up; at one peak the county briefly held up to 17 inmates waiting for state transport.

District Attorney Matt said some of those currently detained are people charged with violent felonies or repeated offenders and that some caseloads are cyclical. “There are 11 serial offenders, people that get arrested over and over and over again,” he said, describing categories in the current population. Several committee members and defense representatives also flagged pandemic‑era court processing changes and defense decisions to go to trial in some cases as contributors to longer pretrial detention for individual defendants.

Probation Director Dan added context on supervision and treatment capacity: the department currently supervises 493 adults and reported that many people leaving probation have co‑occurring mental‑health and substance‑use needs. Staff and legislators repeatedly called for better outpatient and inpatient mental‑health capacity and for a crisis‑stabilization and detox option that could be used by law enforcement and the courts.

Committee members asked staff to assemble specific, numeric answers for the August meeting: how many inmates currently in the jail would be diverted if a detox facility or crisis stabilization center were available; how many are awaiting state transfer; how many are long‑term psychiatric holds or incompetent‑to‑stand‑trial evaluations; and how many are repeat offenders versus new arrestees. The committee also asked for historical context bridging recent spikes tied to the gun‑crime effort and projected needs for any planned public safety building renovations.

The committee did not take formal action at the July 22 meeting. Members agreed to reconvene in August after staff and justice partners compile and present the requested data.