By Tammy Krantz
OurColoradoNews.com
ADAMS COUNTY, Colo. -- The Adams County sheriff and individual community police chiefs are at an impasse regarding the amount of municipal inmates that should be housed at the county jail.
Thornton, Westminster, Aurora, Commerce City and Brighton police chiefs aired public safety concerns related to inmates being turned away from the Adams County jail during a press conference May 28 at the Thornton Police Department.
Adams County Sheriff Doug Darr responded with his own press conference May 29. Darr said that budget cuts and hiring restrictions made by the board of county commissioners affect jail staffing.
“When you’re not properly staffed and you have violent offenders in jail, the issues of safety become real important,” Darr said. “The safety of our personnel and the inmates in our custody are my responsibility and I can’t ignore it and won’t ignore it.” The daily cost to house an inmate at the Adams County facility is $114.21.
Kurt Ester, the jail’s division chief, said that in the past couple years, jail staff has had 42,000 hours of overtime. “I’m working these folks to death just to keep them as safe as possible, and we’re doing everything we can to maintain that,” he said.
The cap restriction — which is 30 and began on Jan. 1, 2012 — was divided among nine municipalities based on their population in Adams County.
Full story: Adams County: Inmate cap issue unresolved