The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted not only the amount of crime in Greene County, but also the decreased number of inmates in the county jail.

Greene County Sheriff Jack Williams says the eight cell jail at the law enforcement center in Jefferson has not been constantly over capacity since the pandemic started in Iowa. He tells Raccoon Valley Radio some of that was due to not having as many people outside and the decisions that were made from the judiciary system.

“A lot of that is just because they’ve changed their ways of probation and parole violations. The judges are more apt to release them than they would’ve been normally before COVID(-19). So our numbers (of inmates) are down, for the first time in five years we’re actually empty there for a day or two.”

Sheriff Williams notes COVID-19 has also prevented them from transporting inmates to other county jails, and during the first two weeks of when the virus started in Iowa, Williams points out they had almost no calls for service. However, with other jail facilities letting inmates go due to COVID-19, Williams says he has not allowed that to happen in his jail.

“By (letting) everybody go you’re just basically telling them, ‘Here’s a slap on the hand and walk away while the victim is still out their money to fix or replace whatever was stolen, or taken or damaged.’ I think it’s just completely ridiculous to be dismissing charges on criminals just because of COVID-19.”

While COVID-19 has allowed the sheriff’s office to reduce the number of individuals who have active warrants because the jail isn’t at capacity, Williams adds crime has gotten back to normal and the inmate numbers are growing again.