PORT ANGELES — For the first time in more than a year, the inmate population of the Clallam County jail has dipped within a hair of capacity.

Often referred to in these pages as “chronically overcrowded,” the 96-person capacity jail has held dozens more.

On Wednesday evening, the population was listed as 98, just two over capacity.

Last week, the population actually dropped to 95 — or under capacity — said Clallam County Undersheriff Rich Sill.

It’s a major accomplishment, he said, that can be attributed to a seasonal low during the late summer months and to a series of population-reducing measures.

“When you have too many people together, too close, that’s never a desirable thing,” Sill said.

With a lower population, the chances that an officer or an inmate could be injured diminish. It also helps slow the spread of illnesses.

Ways to keep numbers low

Credit for getting the number down goes to the seasonal low, but also to placing some inmates on electronic home monitoring, and a series of jail initiatives which are triggered when the number of inmates goes over capacity.

“Each of those has the capacity of reducing a few bed spaces, but when we have all working, all in place and the court monitoring going on as well, the numbers stay low,” Sill said.

In fact, for the first time since the initiatives have been put into place, they were briefly taken off when the population dipped below capacity last week, Sill said.

The initiatives include booking restrictions — where suspects of certain minor crimes are cited and released rather than being booked into the jail — and a uniform bail schedule.

Bail schedules, which are approved by judges, set forth a standard bail amount for certain charges.

That way a person booked into jail on a Friday evening can post bail without having to wait to see a judge of Monday.

Weekends are often the most crowded times in the jail.

In February, the last time the jail was in the neighborhood of capacity, the population held briefly in the low 100s.