Outsourcing inmates to other county jails cost Hays County $61,507 the week of Feb. 3-9, according to the jail report read in commissioners court Tuesday morning.
The jail report states that Hays County had a daily average of 512 inmates that week, with a peak of 524 on Feb. 3. The county outsourced an average of 170 male inmates and 12 female inmates to jails in Blanco, Burnet, Caldwell, Falls, McClennan and Limestone counties. While Blanco and Caldwell counties are nearby, it is 131.7 miles from San Marcos to Waco, the county seat of McClennan County, and 168.2 miles to Groesbeck, the county seat of Limestone County.
The number of outsourced inmates are down slightly from the previous week, when the county outsourced an average of 192 male inmates and 12 female inmates at a cost of $68,258. The Hays County Jail has a maximum capacity of 362, but state jail standards require facilities to hold 10 percent of its capacity open, meaning the jail can hold 311 inmates.
“We are addressing it,” Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra of the county’s need for outsourcing inmates. “We are working on it.”
Becerra posted on his Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra Facebook page that the county will be creating a criminal justice commission to address the issues that contribute to the outsourcing of inmates.
“We are working closely with all within our government to offer useful options to change the way we do things in Hays County,” the post read.
Anyone interested in being a part of the commission is urged to email Becerra’s office at [email protected].
At a commissioners court meeting in September 2018, Hays County Jail Administrator Capt. Julie Villalpando said the jail is trying to streamline the process of getting nonviolent arrestees out on bond and to get inmates’ cases heard. In an email to the Daily Record about jail staffing last August, Sheriff Gary Cutler said that for three years, he and his staff were able to make modifications to the Hays County Jail to avoid outsourcing and meet Texas Commission on Jail Standards requirements.
However, he said, “As one of the fastest growing counties in the United States I do not foresee a rapid solution to the inmate outsourcing problem, even with the scheduled new jail expansion.”
