ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, N.C. — Jails across the Triad are filling up. Many are at or near capacity.
Prosecutors, sheriffs, and judges said jails are being used as mental health and substance abuse treatment facilities - in addition to housing people who commit crimes.
The Rockingham County jail is just one example.
The jail there is a little over 96% full — it's one of the biggest concerns in the Piedmont Triad area — 223 beds are full out of 232.
Law enforcement said at least 90 of those inmates have a mental health problem.
Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page said if the mental health crisis is addressed, we will see the jail population decrease.
Page said, "We aren't going to be able to save them all on this issue, but one at a time. We are trying to move forward and connect those persons to services on the outside so the persons do not end up back. We are trying to break that cycle."
The Randolph County jail is over capacity, sitting at 331 inmates in a facility that only holds 319.
Davidson County is close to 98% full.
In Guilford County, there's a new facility in Greensboro that is at about 60% capacity.
The jail in High Point is 76% full and Forsyth County is also at 60%.
Due to the pandemic, court systems are still trying to catch up, according to attorney Jason Keith.
This also adds to the overpopulation crisis.
"The court is still backlogged from COVID. They still have not cleared through a lot of counties and have not cleared through the backlog because there was a whole year that our court system was shut down, so you had people who couldn't go to trial in 2021. The courts have been trying to actively get through those cases to kind of get back to a fresh start," Keith said.
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, jail overcrowding is a serious national problem that affects not only jail management but the functioning of the whole criminal justice system.