The Montgomery County jail population has jumped 10 percent in the past 45 days, sending it back to a historic high set in 2006 and leaving jail officials scrambling to figure out the cause.
“This is not a crisis,” said county corrections Director Arthur Wallenstein. “We have space for new admissions throughout the system, but this spike in population is a stress on the system and warrants close attention.”
Earlier this year, county officials touted a drop-off to 1,000 inmates from the 2006 benchmark of 1,100. They attributed the spike to new judges and police officers who were hesitant to allow nonviolent offenders to use alternative sentencing, such as day reporting. The population declined as law enforcement officials put more defendants out on bail and sentenced more would-be inmates to community service.
But since the beginning of May, the daily population has climbed to 1,106, leaving 50 beds left for men in the general population, Wallenstein said.
Wallenstein said he isn’t “sure exactly why the population has grown so significantly and so quickly.” He said he’s meeting with police and court officials this week to review potential causes that might include a rise in arrests or an increase in more serious crimes that keep inmates in jail longer.
County police spokesman Lt. Paul Starks said there hasn’t been a significant increase in arrests, and a spokesman for State’s Attorney John McCarthy declined to comment.
Meanwhile, other jurisdictions — the District of Columbia, and Prince George’s and Arlington counties — said they’ve had no such jump in their overall populations. Officials in Prince William and Fairfax counties, and the city of Alexandria could not be reached for comment.
The sudden spike has meant more overtime for corrections officers, Wallenstein said, and if the population continues to climb, the department will have to look at refusing to hold inmates for the federal government.
Arlington County did note a significant increase in the number of federal prisoners it holds daily, going from about 50 to about 95 since a state law went into effect last fall requiring county jails to inquire about citizenship, said Sheriff’s Maj. Susie Doyel.
Regardless of the cause, Wallenstein said, “the inmates have come and we must accept them.”
