A plan by Bernalillo County officials to relieve crowding in the Bernalillo County jail has failed on a tie vote of the County Commission.
County officials recommended that the county send 250 to 300 inmates to other lockups, including jails in Cibola and Sandoval counties.
However, the proposal failed when the commission voted 2-2 Tuesday, with one commissioner absent.
According to the Albuquerque Journal, commissioners who voted against the proposal said paying to house prisoners elsewhere would be costly and could be avoided if some inmates aren't in jail in the first place.
County officials had said they hoped to avoid having a federal judge order a larger reduction in the jail's population.
A federal judge is involved because of a pending civil rights suit against the county.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.