With 96 inmates booked in the jail as of Wednesday, Del Norte County Sheriff Garrett Scott says it's nearing capacity. | File photo: Jessica C. Andrews

After lifting pandemic-era booking policies, the Del Norte County sheriff says the jail is nearing full capacity and he’ll be approaching the local judges to see what options are available for freeing space.

“It took two and a half weeks and I’m almost full,” Sheriff Garrett Scott told the Wild Rivers Outpost on Thursday, adding that there are 96 inmates in custody as of Wednesday and full capacity is at 110. “I’m almost at a situation where I’m going to have to be careful who I hold and let go because I just don’t have the room for them.”

Scott said he plans to meet with Del Norte County judges next week. He said he has already met with the District Attorney.

Though it was before his tenure as Del Norte County Sheriff, Scott said the jail population dipped down into the 30s due to safety precautions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The jail was holding onto major felony suspects, he said, and had to release most others to keep staff from getting sick.

Scott said when he was appointed sheriff in May 2022, the jail population was in the low 50s, “maybe real close to 60,” and there was outrage in the community that his office weren’t holding on to inmates they deemed a threat to public safety. He said he held town hall meetings in Gasquet, Smith River, Fort Dick and in other communities to try to explain the situation.

“A lot of the people would ask, ‘How come you’re not holding onto these people who are arrested for drugs?’ And so we got into these conversations,” Scott said. “I had to kind of regroup and sit my staff down and we came up with a plan about a month ago that we were going to start holding on to pretty much anybody that committed a violent felony or was a threat to public safety or had warrants issued by the courts that was over $25,000. We’re going to do that, but we have to set a maximum population based on our staffing because we could only handle so many people.”

According to the sheriff, there are currently nine corrections staff at the jail that have “been here for awhile.” Scott said he has also hired five correctional officers and four correctional technicians, but they’re brand new. They’re still going through background checks and training, he said.

The jail “should be” staffed by 15 correctional officers and eight correctional technicians, Scott said.

“That won’t change max population (at the jail),” he said, referring to the 110 inmates. “That max population is based on 15 full-time correctional officers.”

The sheriff’s concerns about the jail nearing maximum capacity comes as the county is planning to use $3.1 million in federal Community Funded Projects dollars for upgrades to the facility itself.

District 2 Supervisor Valerie Starkey said she had expected the jail population to increase when the sheriff relaxed his office’s COVID-19 policies.

“He needs to let us know what we can do to help,” Starkey said referring to the Board of Supervisors. “That needs to be communicated with us — if he needs more deputies, if we’re going to have to contract out with Humboldt County.”

Starkey mentioned the $3 million in federal dollars for rehabilitation at the jail, and said she hopes to implement case management so inmates “know what to do and how to do it” when they’re released.

According to Scott, in addition to lifting COVID booking policies, the jail has also reintroduced pre-pandemic programs. Church services are back in session, he said, as is drug counseling. Scott said he’s also working on finding a teacher to get the GED program back up and running.

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