Full Notification

At 10:00 a.m. this morning, Greene County Sheriff Jim Arnott met with all local law enforcement agencies of Greene County to announce that he will begin accepting municipal prisoners starting this afternoon at 1:00 p.m. A $309,000.00 construction renovation project which started on June 10, 2015 was completed on July 3, 2015; the remodel provides the Greene County Jail with space available to accommodate 601 inmates.

With an average population of over 600 inmates, we continue to send inmates to be housed in other counties. There are currently 35 inmates who are housed in other facilities; we will continue to send inmates to be housed in other facilities which may be located in areas across Missouri.

"There is an estimate of at least 5 or more beds available as of this afternoon for municipal prisoners. This will be a fluid number as we monitor the number of people who are arrested and brought into the Greene County Jail," according to Sheriff Arnott.

"I appreciate the willingness of all Police Chiefs along with the Greene County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Patterson in coming together to discuss solutions to address jail population issues," states Sheriff Arnott. "We all hold the safety of our citizens paramount - we are in the same mindset that those who commit crimes in our cities, our county, our communities, need to be held accountable."

One of the changes being implemented at the Greene County Jail is to the Book and Release Policy. It will be modified to ensure those suspects who are arrested for the crime of Burglary are not released but held for charges to be presented to the Greene County Prosecuting Attorney's Office.

"We won't be able to solve the jail population issues overnight. It is still a work in progress but we are heading in the right direction," said Sheriff Arnott. "I'm positive with the input, feedback and discussions with the leadership of our community, we will continue to look for solutions and resources. It is not acceptable for the Greene County Jail to be a revolving door of the criminal justice system."