Sheriff Fred Abdalla said since the jail levy failed on the November ballot, he was forced to make major changes that include reducing the number of prisoners in the county jail.

Abdalla sent a letter out to all local police chiefs this week that stated starting Dec. 5, the Jefferson County Jail would no longer accept prisoners.

The letter went on to read:

"If you presently have prisoners in jail, you must release a prisoner/prisoners to make room for new prisoners. Felony arrests will have top priority and I will caution you to not load up the jail with misdemeanor arrests."

Wintersville Police Chief Ed Laman said he expected the cuts and he is now letting his officers know how to handle the misdemeanors from this point on.

“What will happen in that case,” said Laman. “they'll be booked into our system here, and they'll just release them, and have someone pick them up and release them. I mean that's the only thing we can do."

Abdalla said he has to get his 140 prisoner count down to 70 because by year's end, the jail will be approximately $500,000 in debt.

Abdalla said he wanted to stress to the public that people charged with felony offenses will not be released from jail.

Natalie Pasquarella, NEWS9