The commissioners and audience at the most recent Hays County Commissioners Court meeting got to hear what is meant to be a weekly report on the county jail population, outsourced inmates and the cost of outsourcing.
Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra read aloud an email from the sheriff’s department detailing the number of inmates in the county jail, the number of inmates outsourced, where they were outsourced and how much the county spent on outsourcing for the week of Jan. 27-Feb. 2.
According to the report, the jail’s maximum capacity is 362 inmates, but state jail standards require facilities to hold 10 percent of jail capacity open, meaning the county’s capacity based on jail standards is 311. For the week of Jan. 27-Feb. 2, the jail’s daily average was 537, with a peak of 545 on Jan. 31. On average, there were 192 outsourced male inmates and 12 outsourced female inmates. The outsourced inmates were located in Blanco, Burnet, Caldwell, Falls, Mc-Clennan and Limestone counties at a cost of $68,258.
“These numbers are real, these numbers are big, and we know it,” Becerra said. “And there is, just so you know, a big target from all of us to remedy this. There is no silver bullet.”
On average, there were 192 outsourced male inmates and 12 outsourced female inmates. The outsourced inmates were located in Blanco, Burnet, Caldwell, Falls, McClennan and Limestone counties.
Becerra set a precedent at the most recent commissioners court meeting by discussing training sessions that he has attended to learn more about being county judge.
“There’s a lot to it,” he said, for a private citizen who becomes county judge.
“We are learning lots, and why this is exceptionally important and useful is because I’ve never been a county judge,” Becerra said. “... I want to take all of the training I can get because I want to be the best that I can be for you.”
Becerra said in December, he attended a training session called “Preparing to Take Office.” He later went to a seminar for newly elected county judges and commissioners — as did the new Precinct 4 Commissioner Walt Smith — and then an orientation for county judges held in Lubbock. Becerra said the workshops and seminars have given him a chance to learn about how other counties do things and consider whether those ideas might be useful in Hays County.
“I have learned this so far,” he said. “We have 254 counties in the state. And there are 254 ways to run a county.”
