COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.-
Some El Paso County inmates are camping out in the parking lot as sheriff’s officials try to ease crowding inside the jail.
A 12,000-square-foot canvas tent was put up in the parking Sunday. The first night, 22 inmates on work release slept on bunk beds in the tent and 38 were there Monday.
Gas and electric lines supply heat and power. Carpet covers plywood floors inside and vending machines offer snacks. Restrooms are next door in modular buildings.
The inmates, classified as low-level nonviolent offenders, spend the day at their jobs and return to the tent at night.
“They only come to sleep,” sheriff’s spokesman Lt. Clif Northam said.
Sheriff Terry Maketa said he hopes the tent will ease the crowding in the jail. He has been lobbying for a new jail, which would cost from $25 million to $40 million.
Maketa estimated that maintaining the tent would cost about $200,000 a year.
The county cut the work-release program Jan. 1 to save $700,000 per year and reinstated it in February, pledging to renovate a downtown jail to house those inmates. Once the $2.5 million renovation is complete, the inmates will be moved from the tent.
An undisclosed number of deputies guard the fenced-in area, he said. Inmates who try to escape will be taken off work release and sent to the regular jail.
