WAUKESHA - Due to consistently high population levels at the
Waukesha County Jail, Sheriff Dan Trawicki said Wednesday the county
might start housing some of its inmates in Racine County as soon as
later this year.
Trawicki made his comments during a discussion of the potential
impact of changes in the state drunken-driving laws that would make
first offenses crimes and maybe third and fourth offenses felonies.
But even without those changes, the move is close to becoming a
reality.
"We are full as we speak," Trawicki said.
The jail’s capacity is 469, but, Trawicki said, it is
considered full at 80 percent capacity, or 376 inmates.
"We’ve been as high as 470 and today it’s in the 440s
range," he said. "Today we have 35 to 40 people on
electronic monitoring and a lot of people including myself think
they are better off in jail instead of electronic monitoring but
there is no room for them. ...
