Bernalillo County has a contingency plan to release some prisoners deemed to be low risk if the jail population gets too large.
The Albuquerque Journal reports that the county jail's population of just under 1,900 inmates is now well below its peak and slightly below a court-ordered target.
County commissioners late Tuesday approved a plan allowing for emergency releases if the jail population exceeds the court-ordered target two weeks in a row.
A federal judge handling a civil-rights lawsuit stemming from jail crowding ordered development of a plan for emergency release of prisoners.
Under the county's plan, the inmates to be released cannot include ones awaiting trial on felony charges or those already serving a sentence.
Information from: Albuquerque Journal.
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