Baltimore County's crowded correctional system set a population record Wednesday of 1,051 inmates, adding to the strain on the facilities.
Detention center administrator James Dean said yesterday he was forced to "triple-bed" 49 cells at the main detention center on Kenilworth Drive. One inmate slept on the floor of cells equipped with two bunks.
Mr. Dean said he anticipates the crowding will increase.
"I'm looking for totals in the 1,060s and 1,070s," he said.
The previous peak population for a day was 1,044 inmates last fall. Fall and spring traditionally are the most crowded times at the two jail complexes in Towson.
In a study to address the crowding, two consultants have called for construction by 1999 of a jail holding 1,248 prisoners. Such a facility would cost about $77 million, not counting land costs, the study said.
On Wednesday, Mr. Dean said, 635 inmates were in the detention center and 365 at the Courthouse Court Facility, a collection of two old jail buildings and five trailers at Bosley Avenue and Towsontown Boulevard, near the center. Another 51 inmates were on home detention.
The jail administrator said he wants more inmates on home detention to reduce the number of triple-bed cells. In addition, he is hoping that the 570 inmates awaiting trial can be moved through the court system faster and, if convicted, into the regular prison system.
A recently opened 216-bed addition to the 13-year-old detention center has not provided relief because now the older parts of the building are being renovated, and aren't fully usable. The net result until June will be less space instead of more, Mr. Dean said.
Last fall, the county opened a 100-bed drunken driving treatment prison in Owings Mills which is operated by a private company. Its 52 occupants, who might previously have been detained in Towson, are not included in Mr. Dean's totals.