Article Preview

Sheriff: New jail over capacity, understaffed

By Robert Sorrell

The new Carter County Jail was over capacity and under staffed this past weekend, just a few months after the building began housing prisoners.

Sheriff Chris Mathes informed the Law Enforcement Committee Monday that the current jail population stands at 317. The new jail, which began housing prisoners in June, has a capacity of 296. Of the 317 prisoners, there were 17 state prisoners housed in the jail.

Although the jail’s population has been on an uptick in recent months, the number was especially high this past weekend because there was no General Sessions Court last week. When court is in session, prisoners can be brought to court to be arraigned, and potentially released from custody. Last week, however, Judge John Walton was on break, and prisoners remained in jail.