BELLEVILLE, IL (KTVI - FOX2now.com)—
A "No Vacancy" sign is hanging at the St. Clair County Jail and it's not a joke. The facility is out of room for inmates who are being packed in behind bars. The jail was built to house 330 inmates and, as of Tuesday, there were 450. The overcrowding makes it harder to provide showers and other amenities.Some people do their time in the gym. They get a mattress and blankets and they've run out of mattresses lately. The sheriff knows it's not the best situation. He has to work with what he's given by the courts.
St. Clair County Sheriff Mearl Justus says, "They remand people to the jail and we have to take them. In St. Clair County, our prosecutor and our chief judge I talked to him this morning and they try to get them out as best they can."
