In the heart of downtown Asheville, just steps from Pack Square, sits the Buncombe County jail. While tourists explore one of the most visited destinations in western North Carolina, the detention center is operating above capacity and facing overcrowding.
County officials attribute the overcrowding to several factors: recent changes to pretrial release rules following the implementation of Iryna’s Law, a higher number of jail admissions, and more people remaining in custody for longer periods.
But the situation also raises questions for the local justice system. Why are more people being detained? How do ICE detainers affect the jail population? And what happens to people who arrive at the jail with mental health or substance use issues?
What is happening at the Buncombe County jail?
The population at the Buncombe County jail has steadily increased in recent months, a situation that, according to the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office, is already affecting the facility’s operations.
During a presentation to the Board of Commissioners on June 2, Lee Crayton, analysis supervisor for the county’s Department of Strategy and Innovation, said the jail “is currently operating above both its operational and design capacity.”
He explained that the facility has an operational capacity of 470 people and a design capacity of 524 people. The former refers to the number of people the jail can safely house with its available staff and services, while the latter reflects the capacity the building was originally designed to accommodate.
He also noted that the men’s housing units have regularly exceeded their operational capacity since January and that double occupancy in some cells began in May.
A problem that worsened after the pandemic
The jail’s capacity has changed over the years. Matthew Marshall, spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Office, told Enlace Latino NC that the North Tower and the annex opened in 1994 with capacity for about 354 people.
In 2006, the Central Tower was added, increasing the complex’s capacity to 604 beds. However, the annex closed during the COVID-19 pandemic and never reopened, reducing available capacity by 80 beds.
The figures show that pressure on the jail continues
According to the Sheriff’s Office data dashboard, the average daily jail population so far in 2026 is 498.3 people, a 16.8% increase over the same period last year. During the past week, the population ranged from 504 to 528 people, once again exceeding the facility’s operational capacity.
The growing jail population is also concerning those who work in the local justice system every day.
“In the past, if the jail population reached 415 people, our office was already very concerned,” Elliot Spector, assistant public defender for Buncombe County, told Enlace Latino NC.
Spector said the jail population reached as many as 543 people in custody in recent weeks, the highest number he recalls ever seeing. According to the public defender, that increase makes the jail more difficult to operate and creates challenges for safety and the care of people in custody.
Iryna’s Law, the main factor behind the increase
During the presentation, Crayton explained that, along with increased admissions and longer stays, changes to pretrial release rules have contributed to more people remaining in custody.
Iryna’s Law, which took effect in December 2025, is what changed the conditions for granting pretrial release.
Among other changes, the law:
- eliminated the option of releasing someone on a written promise to appear;
- restricted the use of unsecured bonds for certain offenses; and
- limited the circumstances in which a magistrate may set release conditions.
These changes have affected the jail population: the number of people detained while awaiting the resolution of their cases increased by 20% between May 2025 and May 2026.
Spector agrees that the law has had a significant impact on the increase in the jail population.
“If, over the past 10 years, a person has had three convictions for Class 1 misdemeanors or higher, they are no longer eligible for an unsecured bond,” he explained.
Without money to pay bond, more people remain in custody
In practice, that means that some people who previously could have awaited the resolution of their cases outside jail now remain in custody because Iryna’s Law requires a secured bond for certain offenses and criminal histories, and they do not have the financial resources to pay it.
In Asheville, one option is Asheville Community Bail Fund, an organization that helps pay bail for people who cannot afford it, particularly members of BIPOC communities. Enlace Latino NC attempted to contact the organization for an interview but had not received a response by the time this article was published.
Spector believes these types of initiatives can help while the law remains in effect.
“In the absence of a change in the law, I think if people donate to bail funds, that can help.”
More admissions and longer stays in jail
The jail population has not increased solely because more people remain in custody. More people are also being admitted to the facility, especially for misdemeanor offenses.
Data presented by the Sheriff’s Office show that between January and May of this year, misdemeanor admissions increased by 25% compared with the same period in 2025, while felony admissions declined by 2%. The largest increase occurred among the least serious misdemeanor offenses.
People in custody are also spending more time in jail. According to the presentation, those facing felony charges spend an average of 39 days in custody, compared with 26.7 days in 2018. For misdemeanor cases, the average increased from 5.5 days to 7.7 days over the same period.
Do ICE detainers play a role?
ICE detainers are not listed among the primary causes of the increase in the jail population. However, Spector believes they may play a role in some cases.
According to Spector, Iryna’s Law has changed the situation for some of his immigrant clients. Previously, they could await the resolution of their cases outside jail. The requirement of a secured bond meant that some of his clients remained in custody long enough for ICE to issue a detainer.
Spector clarified that he does not consider this the primary factor behind the increase in the jail population. He also noted that Buncombe County does not have one of the state’s largest immigrant populations. According to him, the impact of ICE detainers could be greater in other counties with larger immigrant communities.
What role does mental health play in jail overcrowding?
One of the biggest challenges facing the Buncombe County jail is the number of people in custody with mental health and substance use issues.
During the presentation, Maj. Jill Banks reported that 223 people in custody had mental health issues and 134 had substance use disorders. She also explained that the wait list for admission to Broughton Hospital, a state psychiatric hospital in Morganton, ranges from six to 18 months.
For his part, Spector believes that the lack of access to mental health services also contributes to the problem. He explained that, in some cases, people experiencing a mental health crisis end up in the criminal justice system when they could have received a different type of care.
What is the county doing to address the problem?
Among the measures presented to the Board of Commissioners are expanding alternatives to incarceration for people accused of misdemeanor offenses, speeding up case processing in the courts, and accelerating the transfer of people sentenced to state prisons to free up space in the county jail. Officials are also considering temporarily housing some people in other jails to reduce pressure on the facility.
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