By Jeremiah Stettler
The Salt Lake Tribune
SALT LAKE CITY — The Salt Lake County jail has expanded its inmate population by about two dozen women since county leaders decided to open 128 unused beds because of overcrowding.
It’s not that the county lockup has changed its criteria for who stays and who goes free, insists jail chief Rollin Cook. The South Salt Lake facility simply has a swelling population of serious offenders.
The County Council resolved in mid-July to open two 64-bed units, which it previously had closed to promote ankle monitors, day-reporting centers and other alternatives to incarceration.
Although still stingy about jail space, council members agreed that overcrowding had become too severe to sidestep.
Since then, the inmate count has grown by up to 25 female inmates, according to jail records released Tuesday.
The male population also is rising — now within 64 beds of capacity — but Cook said the lockup hasn’t yet opened one of the units the council authorized. He hopes he doesn’t have to.
“I’m doing everything I can to hold that off,” Cook said.
Copyright 2007 Salt Lake Tribune