BUTTE - Despite efforts to limit incarcerations during the COVID-19 pandemic, Butte’s jail population remains high.
“It’s not going to get any easier and it’s going to continue to make it more difficult the worse the pandemic gets,” said Butte Sheriff Ed Lester.
As of Tuesday, the jail population was at 103 inmates.
“We like to be in the 70s if we could. We did get up to about 115 about a week ago, so we’re down some,” said Lester.
Since the coronavirus hit back in March, the jail was limiting incarceration to only serious felony offenses or potentially dangerous suspects. However, the jail has had a backlog of Department of Justice offenders who are still waiting to be moved into the state prison or other state facility.
“We have 15 people right now who could go to the Department of Corrections. We’d like to see the Department of Corrections make an effort to get some of these folks out of our facilities or out of my facility anyway,” said Lester.
If the Department of Corrections puts a freeze on taking in inmates due to the coronavirus, the sheriff said they’re going to have to find innovative ways here in dealing with offenders other than incarceration.
“Maybe with some electronic surveillance where we can track people electronically or work with the courts to maybe house arrest or some kind of supervision. We’re going to have to get innovative if DOC decides to shut down intake again. We’re going to have to get pretty innovative in how we manage our populations,” said Lester.
Despite overcrowding, the sheriff said the jail will always make room for anyone who is a danger to the public.