The Geary county jail population remains high – there were 147 inmates on Monday.

Geary County Commission Chair Florence Whitebread reported the high number during the Monday county commission meeting.

“Our numbers are running very high…it just seems to be a lot of activity in town that is not kosher,” said Whitebread.

Whitebread says that many of the inmates suffer from mental health issues and are waiting transport to a mental health facility in Larned, KS.

“Some of these people have been in and out of jail because of mental health…it is truly a problem and there are many mental health issues out there,” said Whitebread.

The inmates that need to be transferred often end up waiting an extended period of time in the Geary County jail because of the high demand in Larned.

“The other day Tony [Wolf] was here and he had somebody he needed to get in and they were 17th on the list,” said Whitebread referring to Geary County Sheriff Tony Wolf.

Whitebread says that she is unsure what can be done about the situation.