By C1 Staff
DETROIT, Mich. — The sentences of 71 inmates were reduced by 20 percent in order to speed up their release and relieve the Macomb County Jail of overcrowding.
The Detroit News reports that those released were prisoners with community corrections-eligible charges. Sheriff Anthony Wickersham says those released “would not present a high risk to public safety.”
The releases were ordered by Chief Circuit Judge John C. Foster after Wickersham made a jail overcrowding declaration on Oct. 27 after the jail had exceeded its capacity by 100 percent for over seven days.
A 1982 state law sets the guidelines for when jail and court officials must release some prisoners to ease overcrowding; there have been 14 emergency jail overcrowding declarations since 2003.
The jail’s capacity is 1,218 prisoners and by law, jail officials need to free up at least 25 beds.