La Crosse County jail trying to keep below 200 inmates

Jail capacity is 211

Early release has become a priority for the La Crosse County jail.

That means letting inmates out quickly after they’ve posted bail.  

The county jail averaged over 200 inmates a day, from January through March. The current number of prisoners is just below 200. Capacity is 211.

Sheriff Steve Helgeson recently told a county law enforcement committee that he’s trying to avoid detainment of certain prisoners that could take hours, if not days.

“Once the release comes down, they’re out very quickly,” Helgeson said. “I would say within an hour we usually have them out the door.”

Sheriff’s department workers are getting help from specialists in screening inmates who have been cleared to leave the jail.

“Probation and parole has been good enough to provide an agent for 4 hours a day, five days a week,” Helgeson said. “What that allows us to do is get some of those probation parole violators out of the jail more quickly.”

Helgeson added that the process of screening prisoners on probation can take days if agents are not available.