Overcrowding In Potter County Jail Forces Examination By Officials

Potter County Officials are discussing either replacing or expanding the Potter County Detention Center due to the fact that there are not enough beds to house all of the inmates that are coming into the center. The safety of the officers as well as the inmates is being compromised by the overcrowding issue and must be addressed.

"It's been an issue for a while. We're staying at capacity," he said. "We don't have room for our own, and we've reached the point where we have to start looking down the road."

The jail has 603 beds and 27 of those are reserved for inmates with medical issues, while 96 are reserved for females. The last figures show that there are 540 offenders occupying beds in the detention center.

The main cause has been stated as 'an overworked court system' and not a rise in offenses leading to lock up.