STUFFED JAIL DELAYS TERMS

Jail sentences for some lawbreakers have been delayed because of overcrowding in the Cape Girardeau County Jail.

People sentenced to shock time or other short jail sentences have been asked to wait about a month before serving their time.

Jeffrey Hamilton was sentenced Monday to serve 13 days in the Cape Girardeau County Jail after pleading guilty to a having a semiautomatic handgun during an argument, a misdemeanor.

Hamilton, 25, of Memphis, was prepared to begin his sentence after Judge John Grimm pronounced it Monday, but instead was asked if he could wait.

"Can you start in about 30 days?" Grimm asked. "They're having a little overcrowding problem at the jail."

Hamilton was escorted to the jail to see if the sheriff's department was able to house him or if he would have to return to the jail from Memphis next month to begin his sentence. The sheriff's office has asked a number of inmates to wait to serve their sentences because of the sudden increase in the jail population.

Cape Girardeau County Sheriff John Jordan said the judges and county commission were made aware of the overcrowding problem a couple of weeks ago. He said the department has appealed to the judges to avoid additional overcrowding.

Jordan said shock jail time has been delayed for some. He said Division III Judge Gary Kamp also is considering early release of some inmates. Kamp didn't return a phone call Monday.

"We're going to have to deal with it," said Cape Girardeau County Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones. "You can't tell people to quit arresting folks."

Jones said inmates who report to the sheriff's office to serve weekend sentences were given last weekend off to minimize overcrowding.

"That might be the first time we've had to do that," he said, "We're facing what the state Department of Corrections faced a few years ago."

Jordan said the department expects the number of inmates to go down soon.

"About 20 of these people have been sentenced here," he said. "The rest are waiting for preliminary hearings or sentencings or something else."

Jordan said the department is trying to house inmates at other area jails while the Cape Girardeau County Jail is crowded. He said inmates have been housed as far away as Ste. Genevieve County. County inmates are currently in Perry and Bollinger county jails and the Cape Girardeau and Jackson city jails, he said.

Jordan said the jail holds about 60 inmates comfortably.

"After that," he said, "we have to put them on the floor."

Jones said he and the sheriff have discussed the situation at great length. He said the county hasn't reached a dead end yet and expects the number of inmates to decrease within a month.

"But within a year," he said, "there will be some awfully serious discussions going on."

Jones said the county might consider using ankle bracelets to monitor inmates in their own homes. He said leasing ankle bracelets is cheaper than building a new jail. The county used ankle bracelets until a couple of years ago, he said.

"Down the line," he said, "we'll probably consider a regional jail concept."

Jones said building another jail in Cape Girardeau County is "cost prohibitive." He said a regional jail would privatize the jail system.

"They're already doing that in northwest Missouri," he said. "The three or four counties involved are saving money and the guy running the jail is making money. We're all very interested in how it works out."