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Missouri Detainees Held In Tent

Sheriff Dan Bullock
Sheriff Dan Bullock

FARMINGTON, Mo. (AP) — One eastern Missouri jail is so overcrowded that authorities are using a huge tent to house weekend prisoners.

St. Francois County Sheriff Dan Bullock plans to use the tents again next weekend.

The 180-bed jail had a record 291 inmates on Saturday.

The department used Homeland Security grant money to purchase the tent through Army Surplus. The tent sits on gravel in the jail’s impound lot.

Inmates use a portable toilet. A homemade sink is set up for washing. A razor-wire fence surrounds the area, which is monitored through surveillance cameras. Jail workers make random checks on the outdoor inmates

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