Sheriff reports jail overcrowding, 153 sleeping on mattresses; county discusses staffing and facility work

Sheriff Cantrell told the County Services Committee that Washington County’s jail population and staffing continue to strain resources, with the jail’s average daily population up and 153 people “sleeping on the floor” — by which he clarified detainees are placed on two stacked mattresses rather than directly on concrete — because a 96-bed minimum security building is temporarily out of service while construction proceeds.

“Last night, there were a 153 sleeping on the floor,” Sheriff Cantrell said, and explained many were relocated across existing housing units after the minimum-security building was taken offline for construction of an exercise yard and COVID-related mitigation work. Cantrell estimated the closure will last about eight to nine months while the project progresses.

The sheriff said the jail’s average daily population waiting to go to prison is 172 and noted a total of 962 bookings the previous month. He reported the number of federal detainees at 84 for the day and said pretrial numbers are down. Cantrell also said the jail remains 28 staff short; the department recently hired two detention officers and a dispatcher and has several applicants undergoing background checks.

Cantrell described the temporary mattress arrangements as double mattresses that “elevat[e] off the floor,” and emphasized housing decisions must account for compatibility, past fights, rival gang memberships or co-defendants. He estimated it could take eight to nine months for the minimum-security building to return to service but said the construction project was “gaining traction.”

Committee members pressed the sheriff on what would be required to eliminate mattress sleeping. Cantrell said the simple (and costly) answer is additional bed space and observed that state prison intake and statewide bed capacity affect county backlogs; he said there are about 2,000 people statewide in county jails on any given day who are awaiting state placements.

Justice Dennas asked about remedies to avoid mattress sleeping; Cantrell said moving people to prison would free local beds but noted the statewide backlog limits that option. Cantrell also confirmed there were zero COVID-positive detainees at the time of his report.

Ending: The committee thanked Sheriff Cantrell for the update; members and attendees discussed staffing, facility projects, and long-term capacity needs but did not adopt any immediate budget or policy changes during this meeting.