Overcrowding at the Montezuma County Jail continues to be a problem as colder months approach — leaving inmates with the option of sleeping inside on open floor space or braving the outdoors.

"We’re just distributing (inmates) on floor space and during the day we put however many want to go outside into the yard," said Lt. Jim Keen, Montezuma County Jail administrator.

"So far we’ve done pretty good. We’ve still got plenty of floor space."

During the summer months inmates could sleep outside; however, freezing night-time temperatures over the last two weeks have made outdoor snoozing a chilling alternative.

One inmate, who wished to remain anonymous, said that last Saturday he was given the choice of sleeping in the drunk tank with 10 other inmates or sleeping outside.

The inmate, who was not intoxicated, chose to sleep outside and was provided with "a sleeping pad, two thin blankets and no pillow."

The temperature on Saturday night dropped to 32 degrees and fell to 29 on Sunday, a local meteorologist reported.

Keen said the jail has been averaging about 100 inmates per week. "Over the weekend we had 109," Keen said Monday morning.

The jail was designed to hold 46 people.

Keen said the large number of inmates could present a danger for jail staff.

"It’s always a dangerous situation for employees. We’re short-handed to begin with," Keen said.

"Luckily we know 95 percent of our clientele. We have a lot of repeat offenders."

The lieutenant added that several of the repeat offenders are placed together in one cell and the inmates that the staff members don’t know are put into a separate cell in order to help keep the peace. "We take care of them," he said.

Keen said that, surprisingly, the inmates are not overly hostile despite the overcrowding. "Actually, it keeps them busy playing cards and games. It gives them a lot of idle time with their companions — they all know each other," he said.

If the jail becomes so crowded that it can no longer take on any more inmates then an arrangement could be made with the Durango or Aztec, N.M., jails to take some of the prisoners, Keen said.

"We have several places that we could take them if we really had to," he said.

Keen added that several of the inmates are on Immigration and Naturalization holds. "If we had to we could give (those inmates) back to INS," he said.

A new 104-bed county jail, which was approved by voters last November, is being built at Empire and Mildred in Cortez. The building will also serve as a new sheriff’s office.

The old jail is to be remodeled into a community-corrections facility as well as a minimum-security treatment center for non-violent prisoners and those with substance-abuse problems.