The State - News from Sept. 16, 1986

The overcrowded Alameda County Jail is releasing inmates early to comply with a court mandate that the jail not be filled to more than 90% of its capacity. The county Sheriff’s Department released 135 men and 25 women last week, bringing the jail’s population at Santa Rita to the court-ordered maximum of 1,850. More prisoners will be released to keep the population below the limit, authorities said. The prisoners, mostly jailed on minor offenses, will serve the rest of their sentences on probation and work furloughs. A $130-million expansion of the jail is due to be finished by 1989.