MCSO acknowledges jail overcrowding issues; looks to expansion

A local mom says her daughter is in the holding area at Mesa County Jail, and that the overcrowding situation is causing some serious problems.

The mom, who asked to remain anonymous, says her daughter only has four feet to walk in any direction because there are many people in her holding cell. She also says that the staff can't get her into a more permanent cell because there aren't any others available.

"There are so many people in there that they have their pads on the floors to sleep on," she said. "They have no jail cells available, some of the girls have been in there for two to three weeks."

She doesn't think her daughter's basic needs are being met.

"They had run out of pads and they said, 'you just have to deal with it until we get more pads.' That stuff is ridiculous. I mean we pay taxes for stuff like that," she said.

The Mesa County Sheriff's office isn't hiding the fact that there is an overcrowding issue.

"We have 570 inmates in the Mesa County Detention Facility. A year ago, we had 463," said Megan Terlecky, the public information officer for the Mesa County Sheriff's Office.

So they're now working to physically expand the jail to add more sleeping space and overflow for booking.

They are working with an architect to figure out how they will expand the jail, and also how expensive it will be.

Once they figure that out, they will take the plans to the public.