Full Notification

To the Citizens of Greene County:

On April 1, 2015, a letter was sent to all police chiefs in Greene County that effective today at 5:00 p.m., the Greene County Jail will no longer accept municipal prisoners. As your Sheriff, I have to weigh our priorities and the current situation with jail overcrowding is a high priority for the safety of the citizens we serve as well as for my employees who supervise the inmates in our facility.

In 2005, a "Book & Release" policy was established for people charged with:
- Arson
- Assault
- Assault on a Law Enforcement Officer
- Burglary of a Home
- Drugs
- Stalking
- Failure to Register as a Sex Offender
- Resisting Arrest
- 7 different Sex Offenses
- Stealing
- Receiving Stolen Property
- Vehicle Theft
- 10 different Weapons Charges

That is not ideal and that is not what we want for this county. In a period of 10 days, people have been arrested and booked into the Greene County Jail for the following municipal charges:
- Riding on the sidewalk
- Incapacitating instrument
- Failure to Pay a Cab
- Nuisances Enumerated
- Failure to Signal
- No Lights on a Bike
- No Lights on a Vehicle
- Smoking in a Commercial Building
- No Helmet
- Prohibited Pitbull (4)
- Fireworks
- Inoperable Vehicle
- Maintenance of Property
- Improper Lane Usage
- No Rabies Tag
- Dog at Large (7)
- Walking Along the Roadway
- No Insurance
- Unreasonable Loud Noises
- Parking in an Alley
- No License (30)
- In a Park After Closing (5)
- Trespassing (28)
- Drug Paraphernalia (40)
**and 248 other municipal ordinance violations

The Greene County Jail WILL accept all suspects charged with a criminal offense, both State and Federal, just not civil municipal ordinance violations.

I am working cooperatively with city leaders over the next 90 days to come to a solution which will help ease overcrowding issues to be able to house the criminals that shouldn't be out in our community.

Sheriff Jim C Arnott