Carbon County's prison is seeing a much welcome lull in inmate growth.

On Wednesday, Warden Timothy Fritz reported to the county prison board that as of that day, the total inmate population at the Nesquehoning facility was 197.The last time the inmate population was under 200, Fritz said, was around August 2015."It's very much welcome," he said, pointing out that there are no contributing factors that he is aware of to support the decrease in population at this time.Carbon County has seen a growth in inmate population at the 227-bed prison over the past several years, jumping to numbers in the 230s, meaning temporary beds were set up to accommodate the influx. The gymnasium had also been converted into an additional housing area for inmates.Fritz said that this lower population is helping the staff as well."It's a lot better for the staff," he said, "less inmates to deal with so stress levels come down."It's the most breathing room we had in a while."In other matters, the board voted to approve a memorandum of understanding with the state Department of Corrections to come in to review staffing at the facility.In recent months, the board has been looking at the increasing number of hours put in by the staff at the prison and ways to alleviate the additional expenses being incurred.In September, the county reported that overtime costs for prison staff was on track to hit $310,000 by the end of the year.The state will come in and look to see how the prison functions and create recommendations on what the county can do to alleviate some of the overage costs.This may mean recommending a complete full-time staff, or hiring additional corrections officers to help with the load.