The Greene County Jail in Missouri has reached a new record number of federal inmates being held for immigration violations, with 413 illegal immigrants currently in custody. This has led to overcrowding, with the total jail population exceeding its capacity of 1,242 inmates.
Concerns Over Jail Conditions
Activists from the Southern Missouri Immigration Alliance (SMIA) have expressed severe concerns over the conditions inside the jail, citing the high number of illegal immigrants being held. According to SMIA, 392 of the ICE detainees in the jail on August 10 were men, which may indicate that overcrowding is even worse on the men’s side of the jail.
The Greene County Sheriff’s Office has an intergovernmental agreement with the U.S. Marshals Service and ICE to house federal inmates, including ICE detainees. However, the contract estimates that the jail has only 375 beds available for federal inmates.
Deputy Jonah Beadles, spokesperson for the Greene County Sheriff’s Office, confirmed that the jail’s overall facility is equipped to house the number of inmates, but not all housing units are considered general population. He also stated that a housing unit with a higher-than-normal count is not a permanent condition and that the numbers change frequently as the inmate population fluctuates.
Original reporting: Springfield Daily Citizen — read the source article.
