LUMBERTON — The Robeson County jail, built in the early 1990s, is supposed to hold up to 410 people. As of May, it had a population of 501.
Overcrowding has plagued the jail for months, according to records from the state Department of Health and Human Services. Sheriff Burnis Wilkins said he has had to buy cots and extra blankets because there aren’t enough beds.
State inspectors have ordered the jail to reduce its numbers. They noted after a December report that jail officials were asking other counties to take the overflow of inmates and working with the court system to “expedite low-level cases” to get people released…