Pueblo sheriff expands municipal bookings, warns city of jail costs and staffing limits

Sheriff Dave Lucero told the Pueblo City Council on March 17 that the Pueblo County Jail has opened limited new misdemeanor booking categories to help city police, but that bed capacity, staffing shortages and growing costs pose limits to how far the county can expand that support.

Lucero said the county in 2025 began accepting certain municipal-level misdemeanor charges that the jail had not accepted in recent years. He said the sheriff’s office will accept unlawful carrying of a concealed weapon, unlawful possession of a weapon, prohibited use of weapons, possession of defaced firearms, theft of $300 or more and criminal mischief of $300 or more. He also said the jail will accept municipal defendants when the officer documents multiple recent priors ("if they in a calendar year, an offender ... had 3 priors that we would accept them into the jail").

The changes are a response to concerns presented by the city about rising thefts, vandalism and repeat offenders in commercial corridors. Lucero described the policy as a measured step: "I went back and looked to see where I could help and what I could do. And I was able to agree in 2025 to these misdemeanor charges ... those were the misdemeanor crimes that ... I was able to address." He said the sheriff’s office will continue to evaluate how accepting those charges affects jail population and staff.

Why it matters

Pueblo’s jail capacity, per Lucero, is finite and staff-constrained. Lucero said the current facility’s capacity is 509 beds and that on the morning of the presentation there were 444 inmates in custody. He said the county is scheduled to open a new jail in February (the presentation did not specify the year) that will increase capacity; he said the new facility will have 680 beds and that municipal bed allocations will expand from 10 to 30.

Lucero also flagged personnel shortages and fiscal strain. He said the sheriff’s detention operation is about 40 deputies short and that the county currently bills the city $45 per day for municipal inmates. "We currently charge to the city ... $45 a day," he said. The sheriff added that the county is absorbing a significant share of the actual cost and warned that the current rate covers roughly half of the county’s real housing cost. "The county's eating the cost right now," Lucero said.

Fiscal and length-of-stay details

Lucero gave council auditors and members a multi-year snapshot showing municipal invoices and billed totals. He said the city was invoiced about $329,400 in 2023 and $598,000 in 2024; he said the county absorbed a deficit the sheriff described in the presentation as "of 844,000, almost $545,000" for the invoices billed (the slide and spoken language were inconsistent on the two figures). Lucero emphasized the county’s accounting constraints and said any larger, ongoing municipal intake would require renegotiated rates or a formal cost study.

On detention duration, Lucero said the average length of stay for municipal inmates in 2024 was "31 days and 11 hours." He compared Pueblo to nearby counties: El Paso County charges Colorado Springs $88.72 per day and will accept only certain municipal warrants; Summit County’s municipal rate cited by the sheriff was $445 per day and includes broader charge acceptance.

Staffing and operational trade-offs

Councilors pressed Lucero on practical effects: whether officers are being turned away, how to define "public safety" to trigger acceptance, and whether booking could be accomplished by filing a state affidavit rather than a municipal citation. Lucero said the jail has not turned away a request when the on-duty gatekeepers (the jail operations captain or bureau chief) authorize acceptance and that the county will accept suspects if public safety concerns warrant it. He also said officers can file state affidavits in many instances; that requires additional paperwork but can result in mandatory county custody.

Lucero also said he would not expand municipal acceptance further without data and cautioned council about the staffing trade-offs. He said the new jail’s additional municipal bed capacity (30 beds) is not yet formalized by a written agreement and that the county would likely seek higher per-diem rates before permanently expanding the program.

Council reaction and next steps

Council members said the change helps address repeat offenders downtown and asked for a clearer, written policy (who approves, when county will accept, rate scenarios). Lucero recommended commissioning a study to quantify true per-diem costs; he noted studies elsewhere placed the full per-inmate cost at roughly $200 per day. Mayor Graham said staff would continue the conversation and that any permanent funding changes would require council-level decisions. Lucero said he will continue to monitor municipal bookings, share updated population tables with council, and work with city leadership on potential cost-sharing or contractual arrangements.

Ending

Lucero described the changes as an "experiment" and said the county will evaluate effects of the limited expansion. He repeated that the county is willing to partner with the city on public-safety holds when appropriate, but that sustaining an expanded municipal intake would require either higher per-diem payments or additional county resources.