Ingham County Sheriff’s Office officials were forced to release nearly 50 inmates Friday because of overcrowding.

State law forces jail administrators to bring the inmate population down to capacity if it remains above for seven consecutive days. As of 1 p.m. Friday, the county facility housed 629 people, said Major Mike Carpenter, Ingham County Jail administrator.

Jail capacity is 575, putting many inmates on mats in the jail gymnasium to sleep. Under the state law, the county has three days to bring the inmate population down to capacity.

“Those people eligible to be released early are (done with their sentences) in the next two days,” Carpenter said.

But if the county is unable to bring the jail population down, state law mandates all inmates’ sentences get reduced - regardless of what their conviction is for.

County officials, however, say the jail’s problems will not go that far.

Carpenter said such situations have been common in the jail’s history. In some prior years, nearly 600 people have been released annually. Last year, however, only six people were released early because of overcrowding.

“We were fortunate we’ve had about a year reprieve,” Carpenter said.

The 1964 jail facility was originally constructed to house 200 inmates. A later addition and double-bunking procedures have brought the capacity to its current level.

Carpenter said that even with its current capacity, the jail cannot always handle the inmates sent there by county judges.

“Judges use the jail and the jail is not big enough for what they are using it for,” he said.

Ingham County Chief Circuit Judge Peter Houk said the overcrowding puts an added strain on county judges as well, forcing them to manage the jail population. But, he said, no one should be afraid about the county releasing inmates.

“Most of the people released are those who haven’t been convicted,” Houk said. “All of those who are released are not threats.”

Houk is among the county judges who examined the county’s list of inmates to determine who would be released.

The chief circuit judge said using substance abuse programs rather than sending people to the jail is one method that could help reduce the county’s load.

Mark Grebner, Ingham County Board of Commissioners chairman, agreed that changing some sentencing practices could help, but increasing the size of the jail is not an option the board is considering.

Rather than solving the problem, Grebner said building a larger jail could lead to more inmates unnecessarily held at the facility and greater costs for the county.

“Ingham County has quite a large jail compared to its population,” said Grebner, D-District 8, which includes MSU. “The actual problem is quite complicated.”

Grebner said overcrowding in the Ingham County Jail can be caused by a variety of factors, including the number of recent arrests, how quickly the state removes inmates to prisons and sentencing practices of county judges.

“Jails are always pretty crummy, but I’d say ours is one of the less crummy around,” Grebner said.