U.S. Inmates May Get Benefit of Jail Crush

Sheriff Michael Hennessey said overcrowding at the County Jail in the Hall of Justice may force him to release inmates awaiting trial in federal court.

The jail receives $48 a day for each of its 60 federal inmates. Hennessey, under court order to reduce the number of inmates in another section of the jail, said removal of the federal prisoners would make more room for sentenced offenders and drunks.

The sheriff said he had written to U.S. Marshal Glen Robinson advising him that the federal inmates may have to go elsewhere, but set no deadline “because I wanted there to be some time for him to make other arrangements.”