During his visit to The N&O this week, Wake County Sheriff Donnie Harrison was asked about the crowded conditions in the jails and whether he thinks the criminal justice system moves a bit too slowly for his taste. For starters, he said he has about 1,300 beds and about 1,400 prisoners on any given day, one time reaching a high of 1,550. Most days, there are 90 people in the jail who admit to being gang members (see attached audio). Interestingly, he said that about 100 countries are represented in the jail population. About 85 percent of those in jail are people awaiting trial, he said.

And the biggest hindrance to getting those folks to their dates with madame justice? Game-playing lawyers.

Take a listen.

Wake County Sheriff Donnie Harrison spent some time at The N&O this week talking about his department's role in the federal 287(g) program and the details of what now happens to suspects found to be illegal immigrants. He said that he had estimated that between 10 percent and 15 percent of the people churning through his jails were illegal immigrants and that participating in 287(g) had proved his guess correct.

He also talked about how hard it would be to trim his budget, given that most of it pays for highly needed personnel, and about how, even though Wake County might be shrinking area-wise as towns incorporate larger areas, the population his department serves in the areas that are left just keeps growing.

Here are some soundbites from the sheriff regarding his thoughts on illegal immigrants in the county.