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Officials explain yard‑time restrictions, report population and recreation metrics at Delaware County jail
Summary
Warden and staff reported a morning population of 1,097, detailed reasons for locked‑down recreation blocks and said most no‑yard incidents were security searches or housing‑block incidents.
Warden Williams reported facility population and described recent recreation restrictions and their causes at the June oversight board meeting.
“This morning's population was … 1,097 incarcerated persons,” Williams said, noting a small increase from the prior month but a population below levels earlier in the year.
Board members raised concerns about units recorded as having no recreation time. Williams and other staff explained that most instances without yard or recreation access reflected security responses or searches on specific housing blocks rather than a facility‑wide policy. "When I had showed this slide, this evening, I had indicated that those were either related to an incident that occurred on the housing unit that needed to be controlled, and, thus, everybody needed to be locked in until the incident was resolved, and or a search," Williams said.
Deputy Warden Falley told the board that weekly recreation spreadsheets are distributed to board members so they can follow unit‑level access. Staff said inmates may have indoor dayroom recreation when weather or security prevents access to outside yards, and that blocks which share a yard are scheduled so the two blocks do not use the yard simultaneously.
Board members said they receive constituent inquiries about missed yard time and asked the facility to investigate individual reports that a particular officer or sergeant was denying yard without legitimate reason. Williams encouraged the board to provide names and details for allegations so staff can investigate and said some operational details may not be shared publicly when they would compromise security.
Next steps: facility staff will continue weekly recreation reports to the board and investigate reported patterns of unjustified denial of yard access.
