El Paso County just broke a record, and it's not a good one.

Sheriff Bill Elder says the county is holding more inmates at the jail right now than ever before. Tuesday, there were 1,717 inmates. For reference, they start worrying when things get above 1,500.

While the inmate population reaches a record high, a contagious skin condition has forced 28 inmates into quarantine. A viewer reached out to 11 News when they heard their family member may be at risk. El Paso County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Natalie Sosa says one inmate at the Criminal Justice Center has a contagious skin condition. The inmate was placed under quarantine for a week. They also identified and isolated the inmates who may have come in contact with that contagious inmate. Those inmates are also being quarantined for a week. Sosa did not elaborate on what type of skin condition the inmate has or if any staff members are at risk.

When it comes to the overpopulation issue, Elder said things are getting dangerous for not only inmates but for staff too.

“When we have problems with fights and attempted suicide and things like that, it typically manifests itself more often when we have more people in the jail," Elder explained.

The sheriff's office is working with the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council to find a fix for the overpopulated jail, but Elder admits building a new one would just be costly and would be avoiding the problems they already have.

Focuses are aimed on stopping the flow of mentally ill and homeless people into the jail when they could be better helped with treatment or other options instead of time behind bars.

Elder also said the way we think of small crimes in El Paso County needs to change, and judge's sentences for those crimes needs to change accordingly.

Elder admits this will take time to get figured out, but they don't have much time left before the entire jail is completely full. The maximum capacity is just over 1,930 inmates, and Elder expects to be hitting a daily average of 1,800 by summer 2019.