In September 1996, the Bureau of Justice Statistics released its yearly statistical and descriptive study of U.S. jails for 1995. For the first time in recent years, the review was coupled with the yearly Prison Report. The report notes a 4.2-percent jail inmate increase from 486,474 to 507,044, and a corresponding prison growth of 6.8 percent to a new level of 1,127,132. Comparative population levels suggest that State and Federal prisons dwarf county jails by a ratio of 2.2 State inmates to every jail inmate. Historically, this has resulted in more research and policy attention to State and Federal institutions and the majority of correctional funding also being directed to these facilities. Jails must move to the center of the correctional and social policy stage, for here is where changes can be made and linkages with the community can be encouraged, demanded on occasion, and given full public credence. King County has spent the past 6 years operating its detention system under a set of consent agreements that impact inmate population, staffing, and health care delivery while adhering to a political priority of no inmate population restrictions. This situation requires the system not only to plan for the addition of detention capacity for secure beds but also a broad range of both traditional and creative strategies that impact the inmate population and the efficiency of criminal justice operations. The key issue is the control of inmate population levels and a response to legal intervention or the threat of interventions that would cap population levels or force the restriction of bookings. King County has learned that all decisions impact jail population levels, and every part of the system and the external environment that apparently drives actions in a democratic system must open all procedures to review, re-engineering, and reconsideration. 4 references