By Lindsay Watts
The Denver Channel
DENVER, Colo. — Arrest numbers are down in Boulder County, but staff at the jail say crowding has reached an all-time high, largely due to an increasing number of mentally ill inmates.
“I’m running a mental institution, not a jail,” said Boulder Sheriff Joe Pelle.
Pelle said the numbers have been in increasing, and currently, the mentally ill make up 30 to 40-percent of the jail population.
“It’s hard to manage. They don’t make bond and they tend to be in jail three to four times longer than an inmate without a mental illness,” Pelle said, attributing that to evaluations and other delays as they make their way through the court system.
Full story: Boulder County Sheriff says jail ‘at breaking point’ as mentally ill population grows