Potter County Issues Weekly Jail Report

The Potter County Sheriff’s Office reported Monday that they have 620 inmates in custody, 546 of those are housed in the Potter County Detention Center on the old airbase with 74 inmates currently being housed in other facilities. The Detention Center has a total capacity of 599 beds. The 620 inmates in custody includes 32 Pretrial Class A and B misdemeanor offenders. Of those 32 individuals, only 19 would actually be eligible for release from custody. The remaining 13 would continue to be held because of additional pending charges and/or holds from other agencies. PC-SO is required to maintain custody of those individuals until arrangements were made for the appropriate agency to take custody. The nature of the offenses must be considered. A significant portion of these inmates are currently charged with offenses involving Driving While Intoxicated and assault-related offenses. Any discussion about releasing individuals charged with these offenses needs to take the underlying public-safety considerations into account. The detention center’s 100% rated capacity is 599 inmates and The Sheriffs Office strives to operate at an 80% capacity standard, which is approximately 479 inmates. Even if all 19 A and B misdemeanor inmates were released and the 91 inmates currently being housed in other facilities were removed from the overall number, the jail would still be above that 80% threshold at 510 inmates.