NORWICH – Recent data comparing New York’s county jails puts Chenango County’s new Public Safety Facility ahead of the pack when it comes to the percentage of sentenced inmates and numbers farmed in.

“Overall, for the short time we’ve been open, we are doing pretty good in comparison to other counties,” Sheriff Thomas J. Loughren said.

During October, 68 percent jailed in the Town of Norwich facility were fully-sentenced. Though the Sheriff’s Office would prefer the number to be higher (housing unsentenced criminals is “a drain on system,” Loughren said), Chenango County’s rate surpasses all of the other jails in the surrounding counties.

Only 23.8 percent of the inmates in Broome County’s jail, 30 percent in Otsego’s, 36.7 percent in Cortland’s and 38 percent in Delaware’s were actually sentenced criminals. The rest were awaiting trial. Madison County’s jail came close with 57.5 percent.