Drug arrests lead to jail overcrowding

MARQUETTE — Within the last month, The Marquette County Jail has seen a steady increase of inmates. The Marquette County Sheriff’s Department, along with other local police branches, has performed many drug indictions across the city of Ishpeming.

“During that week, numerous arrests were made, and our population in the jail had gone up substantially,” said Marquette County Sheriff Greg Zyburt.

But, just how substantially? The capacity at the Marquette County is 72 inmates.

“The last month or so, significant at one time in the jail, we had close to 100 people,” said Zyburt.

So that’s a lot more than the jail is designed to hold. So, what to do with that surplus of inmates?

“What we would do is we would double–bunk, and you know it is a little more congested,” said Zyburt.

But sometimes, that won’t be enough.

“And sometimes we do let out early some of the less violent offenders, and that type of thing is overcrowding is actually an issue,” said Zyburt.

That number has gone down, but if I were you, I wouldn’t expect Marquette County Sheriff, Ishpeming City Police, or UPSET to stop looking for drug activity.