Fifteen inmates were released yesterday from the Branch County jail with their sentences reduced as ordered by the courts to address an overcrowding emergency declared last week. The prisoner reduction of the non-violent, misdemeanor offenders got the jail population down to 122, 16 below the rated capacity. A handful of the inmates were due to be released anyway this coming weekend. The biggest sentence reduction went to a female inmate who wasn’t due to be freed until March 11th.
