Declining inmate population sparks optimism for law enforcement

By Jenna Wilson

The Buchanan County Jail population isn’t as high as it was during the pandemic, but law enforcement would still like to see the number of inmates entering the facility decrease.

Buchanan County Sheriff Bill Puett said the number of inmates housed at the county jail currently sits around 160, which sounds high, but two years ago, the jail’s population reached capacity of 250.

“Our average daily population this past year was around 146 and everybody should understand those are still a few COVID numbers we’re dealing with,” Puett said. “We stayed open and the legal process was still moving along in Buchanan County. Still, for a lot of years, we were well over 200 so those numbers are considered fairly low for us.”

Puett said there are a few reasons behind those dwindling numbers.

“I think some of it has to do with the change of bond rules a couple years ago,” he said. “Under the rule, the courts could only incarcerate so many people and the courts had to try non-monetary sanctions and other options before they can incarcerate them, which I think had an impact some.

“Along with that, we’ve been aggressive about our enforcement, so we aren’t dealing with a ton of outstanding felony warrants that were happening during COVID. We did business as best we could and didn’t put everything on hold,” he continued.

While the declining number of inmates housed at the jail daily is promising, officers still saw a high number of citizens booked into jail this past year, higher than in 2022.

In 2022, 2,900 inmates were booked into the county jail and this past year, 2,957 inmates were booked into the jail.

“That’s close to 3,000 folks booked into the jail just this last year,” Puett said. “That’s a pretty significant amount. Of course, we are often transporting inmates between here and another jurisdiction for many reasons, including if they’re headed to prison or sometimes bringing them back to stand trial if they’re a prisoner in another jurisdiction so, there’s many different factors that are in those numbers.”

While these numbers are alarming, Puett hopes the noticeable decrease in the inmate population will continue, and the community can see law enforcement’s efforts to tackle criminal issues.

“We always hope that our efforts are making a difference in the community,” he said. “We have a whole lot of outstanding people that go out every day and that includes all our law enforcement partners. We’re always aiming to put a dent in the criminal activity and the victimization of our citizens. We hope it’s making an impact.”