Hennepin County Jail overcrowded, 180 inmates to be moved

The Hennepin County jail has a functional capacity of 755 inmates.

Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS the jail is now overcrowded and exceeds that limit. Officials are currently in the process of moving 180 inmates to two other jails in separate counties.

Witt said the inmate transfers are necessary to keep inmates and jail staff safe.

“You know, in terms of overtime and running at minimums, that’s not good for anyone. It’s not good for our incarcerated population. It’s not good for our people that are working in the jail day in and day out,” said Witt.

Witt said that if the current inmate trend continues, she would seek to build a new jail outside Minneapolis.

“So, if somebody asked me today, ‘Hey, what do you need?’ I would say we need a bigger jail and we would need to not be in downtown Minneapolis,” said Witt.

Witt also said she does not support releasing inmates to ease the overcrowding because 84% of the inmates have a violent criminal history.

“We have to have answers. But, I can tell you what, the answer shouldn’t be to allow people to terrorize the neighborhood because our jail is overpopulated,” said Witt.

Witt said Wright and Scott counties have agreed to accept some inmates but at least two more jails in other counties are still needed.