Sixty five incarcerated individuals had to be relocated following an issue with the air handler that caused an air conditional malfunction.
The inmates were moved out of the Gulf and Hotel units. Officials say the cells in that unit will be out of service until they can get the air handler fixed.
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There are currently 241 cell units out of commission at the Erie County Holding Center and Erie County Correctional Facility. The sheriff’s office says their inmate population as grown from 717 to 760 in the past two weeks.
“This is yet another constraint on my already strained classification team,” said Sheriff John Garcia. “With 241 cells unavailable, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to assign incarcerated individuals to appropriate units, while still honoring the necessary classification requirements. We are quite simply running out of available places to house our population.”
The Sheriff’s Office say several air handlers at Jail Management Division facilities are scheduled to be replaced as part of a $3 million project.