Hutchinson ? Overcrowding has become the rule in some county jails around the state, partly because of drug arrests that send even more suspects into the criminal justice system, sheriffs say.

In Reno County, where 25 prisoners were released last week to alleviate overcrowding, drug arrests account for about 40 percent of the jail population. In McPherson County, the proportion can run as high as 70 percent.

Reno County’s jail and its annex, with a total of 160 beds, were filled with 180 prisoners before last week’s releases.

“There wasn’t anything else to do except sit there and go through the jail list and see who we could release,” Sheriff Randy Henderson said. “And there weren’t many, I’ll tell you. These are dangerous people.”

Reno County prisoners routinely sleep in plastic emergency sleds or on mattresses on the floor, the sheriff said. Since he became sheriff in January, the main jail and the annex originally intended for medium-security prisoners have routinely been at capacity.

It’s a situation found in many Kansas jails. Harvey County’s jail was at capacity over the weekend, with all 108 beds occupied by prisoners, trusties and prisoners on work-release.

“That’s just the way the business is,” Harvey County Sheriff Byron Motter said. Motter’s problems are worsened by 28 beds committed to federal prisoners part of the county’s financing plan for the jail.

In nearby McPherson County, officials say the 48-bed jail routinely has 35 to 40 inmates, leaving several beds to spare.

“That’s the right idea,” Motter said. “The experts say you want to stay at 80 percent of capacity.”

The high proportions of drug suspects in Reno and McPherson counties partly reflect the pursuit of methamphetamine makers by Kansas law enforcement.

Of the 846 meth lab seizures reported by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation last year, 55 were in Reno County, the fifth-highest number in the state. McPherson County had the 12th-highest number, with 24 labs seized, according to the KBI.

And all those seizures mean more suspects awaiting their day in Kansas’ courts, the sheriffs note.

“It sure seems like the backlog in the court system is an issue,” Motter said. “We’ve got two people in here a year on murder raps who haven’t been to trial yet.”

Some counties have addressed their jail crowding problems with new construction.

Finney County faced the same overcrowding problems until its capacity was quadrupled last year to 220 beds, jail administrator Mark Welch said. Now, with the county’s own jail population rarely exceeding 100, Finney County can contract to house prisoners from other counties.