Jail Overcrowding Committee

About the Program

Category: Criminal Justice and Public Safety (Best in Category)

Year: 2009

Recently, the Lexington County jail was in crisis with inmate overcrowding. Overcrowding was causing numerous issues from officer and facility security concerns to internal inmate social problems. It was determined that the jail population was increasing at a rate of 11 percent a year and that the projected jail population would be over 1,800 by the year 2016. At this rate, a new jail would have to be built which would cost the county 55 million dollars. The Jail Overcrowding Committee decided to work towards lowering the jail population in lieu of a new detention facility. The committee consists of over 38 people from several interested areas of the county, state, and local governments to include local officials. The committee started meeting monthly and after working through political and historical differences, the committee was able to reduce the jail population by 20% and continues to meet and work toward keeping the population in check.