The average daily population at the Athens-Clarke County Jail has increased to well over 400 and has even peaked at more than 500 inmates over the past year, straining staffing and increasing costs for the county.
The increase reflects a combination of bond policy changes, poverty, mental health challenges and the pace at which cases move through the courts, according to local officials.
Clarke County Sheriff John Williams said the increase is largely about how long people remain behind bars.
“It’s not just a growth; it’s just people aren’t getting out as quickly, as well,” Williams said.
Why It’s Newsworthy: Increases in the jail population put a strain on both the jail’s staff and the county’s corrections budget.The jail is not near its physical limit, Williams said, but staffing constraints have pushed it beyond what he considers safe operational levels.
“We’re not really close to our physical capacity, but we daily have been beyond the safety levels where we can operate effectively,” Williams said. “Four hundred and fifty is kind of our magic number.”
The facility can house more than 800 inmates, but Williams said current staffing does not allow that number to be managed safely. In recent months, the daily population has hovered around 500.
Higher populations also bring higher costs.
“Medical care is a significant portion of our budget,” Williams said, adding that food, overtime and health care expenses rise with each additional inmate.
Mayor Kelly Girtz said the county has confronted jail capacity challenges before. Before a new facility was constructed around 2010, inmates were frequently sent to other counties because of limited space.
“It wasn’t unusual for us to house out something like 100 inmates a night,” Girtz said.
Those transfers limited access — and increased expenses.
“Certainly not to the benefit of justice for those inmates and access to engagement with their attorneys and their family members, employers and others,” Girtz said.
Today’s issue, he said, is less about space and more about coordination across the criminal justice system.
“I think we’re kind of at that need area again where we’re going to have to get everybody who’s involved in system flow at the table again,” Girtz said.
He said collaboration between judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys and law enforcement previously helped reduce the jail population and could do so again.
Second-year law student Kaley Terlep, who has worked in the local public defender’s office, said bond practices and delays in setting bond hearings are major factors keeping people in custody.
“You’re entitled to one within 90 days, unless they indict your case,” Terlep said. “So there’s a chance you could go over three months without a bond even being set.”
She said many people remain in jail because they cannot afford even relatively small bond amounts.
“We are arresting people who cannot afford to get out, and so they’re going to sit in there,” she said.
Pandemic-related court slowdowns also continue to affect case timelines, she said.
“It truly took us to a stop, and it’s going to take a really long time to get through everything,” Terlep said.
Williams said the sheriff’s office is focusing on staffing improvements, modernization and programming rather than expanding the jail.
“We don’t need a new jail, but we do have to modernize it,” he said.
He said expanded medical services, mental health care and educational programs are intended to reduce repeat offenses and help inmates transition back into the community.
County leaders say addressing the jail population will require coordination across agencies, improved staffing and continued efforts to move cases efficiently through the court system.
Katie Jarrard is a third-year student majoring in journalism and marketing at the University of Georgia.
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