A rising proportion of inmates in the Dane County Jail are dependent on drugs, according to a major report released last month by Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk.

This is in accordance with national figures, which state that more than a third of all inmates nationally were taking drugs at the time of the offense that got them incarcerated, and more than 60 percent were using drugs, alcohol or both.

The report analyzes the Dane County Jail inmate population and suggests recommendations to change how the county handles inmates with drug and alcohol problems.

“Our goal is threefold: To reduce offenders cycling back through the criminal justice system, to increase public safety and to turn lives around,” Falk said. “The result will reduce jail overcrowding, lower costs and save lives.”

The steady increase in the number of drug offenders in the Dane County Jail has contributed to overcrowding, which has become a growing concern in the county. With a rising population of drug offenders in jails, the problem, according to the report, will only get worse if new changes are not implemented.

Last year the Dane County Jail housed an average daily population of 1,018, which exceeded the jail system’s capacity of 942.

Dr. Cheryl Zimmerman, president of Zimmerman Consulting, Inc. began the three-month study in May. Many of the study’s findings and suggested changes are similar to those proposed by the Progressive Dane, a liberal local party largely devoted to protecting civil liberties.

“We’ve made serious efforts to stay ahead of jail overcrowding by implementing a variety of jail-alternative and diversion programs, such as the Drug Court and the Treatment Alternative Program,” Falk said. “We’ve made progress, but we need to do more.

“Offenders who receive jail time for a substance-abuse-related offense are highly likely to return to prison again after they are released,” she added. “Drug-abuse treatment is effective in reducing both drug addiction and drug-related crime.”

The Progressive Dane, in its State of the City Drug Policy Address in August, made similar suggestions to provide treatment options for drug users in jail. While the group supports the legalization of marijuana, it hopes to see treatment become available for other narcotics and hard drugs in jails, rather than just in treatment facilities not accessible to inmates.

“We are concerned that [methadone treatment] is completely unavailable in the Dane County Jail,” the address stated. “We recommend that the Dane County sheriff take immediate steps to ensure that addicts undergoing methadone treatment have access to this treatment while in jail.”

The jail’s population is mostly composed of county prisoners sentenced to jail, 42 percent of whom are let out during the day to work under Huber Law privileges, while 29 percent of the population is comprised of arrested persons who are not yet arraigned or sentenced.

The recommendations made by Zimmerman in the study include implementing intensive alcohol and drug rehabilitation programs for inmates in custody as well as follow-up treatment that should take place in a maximum-security jail facility, a locked or unlocked rehabilitation facility or a locked or unlocked Huber facility.

Nationally, marijuana is the most widely used drug among drug inmates, according to the Justice Department. The percentage of inmates who said they had used the drug at some point went from 71 percent in 1989 to 78 percent in 1996; stimulants, from 22 to 34 percent; hallucinogens, 24 to 32 percent; depressants, 21 to 30 percent; and opiates, 19 to 24 percent. Half of the inmates in both years reported trying cocaine.