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Hays County jailPosted October 16, 2007, 6:30 a.m.
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By Bill Peterson
Hays Highway Editor
Two years ago, Hays County opened its own district court, the 428th, in an attempt to keep up with the increasing log of cases that comes with population increases. However, the county has not built a new jail to accommodate the inevitable increase in convictions and pre-trial incarcerations.
The county had a backlog of 2,800 cases when the 428th opened as the only district court dedicated exclusively to Hays County. The county also shares the 22nd, 207th and 274th with other contiguous counties. By last November's election, the backlog had been cut in half.
Now, the Hays County jail is over-crowded and the sheriff’s office is keeping 30 inmates per day in the Guadalupe County jail at a cost of $50 per inmate per day.
Nobody ever said justice is free or cheap. Hays County is writing checks at a rate of $550,000 per year to Guadalupe County.
Hays County Sheriff Allen Bridges is expected to appeal to the commissioners court Tuesday for a new jail or an expansion of the old one. The case to be made is easy. Funding is less obvious.
Quoting a report on the Texas Commission of Jail Standards (TCJS) web site: "Funding agents (county commissioners or supervisors) ... often view the jail with disdain. No organized lobby or influential interest groups advocate increased spending for jails. Perhaps, from a political perspective, this is because jails have no 'sex appeal.'"
A new $5 million jail would pay for itself in ten years, give or take. The county would stop sending payments to Guadalupe County, but it would have to pay for more jail administration. Then again, the number of inmates is only going to increase, so the county stands to save money in the long run.
From reviewing TCJS statistics, Hays County is way under jail capacity for its size. Hays County is tied for the 90th highest incarceration rate among the 254 Texas Counties, jailing 2.80 of every 1,000 residents. As of Sept. 1, the average daily population jailed by Hays County is 332 out of 129,129 residents.
The median incarceration rate among Texas counties is 2.40 per 1,000 persons, while the average across Texas is 2.63.
The Hays County jail has a capacity of 362 beds, enough for 2.80 of every 1,000 persons, which barely meets the incarceration rate. The county's jail capacity actually comes up short because one wing has to be reserved exclusively for female inmates. The county has run into trouble with TJSC for over-crowding, and that was since a juvenile detention center opened in 2002, relieving one jail wing that had been used for juveniles.
Of the Texas counties with between 125,000 and 135,000 inhabitants, Hays County has, by far, the fewest jail beds. Taylor County has 127,745 inhabitants and 662 jail beds, with 508 in jail per day. Wichita County shows a population of 129,069, 625 jail beds, and a daily jail population of 434. Ellis County has 134,895 people, 568 beds and 408 in jail on the average day.
The only other Texas counties with 345-380 jail beds are Liberty County (population 76,943, 372 beds, 189 filled) and Hunt County (population 82,854, 345 beds 238 filled).
Basically, Hays County has the same number of jail beds as counties that are 50,000 people smaller, and it needs at least 200 jail beds to match counties of its size.
Looking around Texas, the proportion of jail capacity to jail population in each county throws out some insights about the perceived necessity of imprisonment in various communities.
Kenedy County, a coastal location in the Rio Grande Valley, has only 385 residents and no jail space, but eight of its citizens are incarcerated by some kind of arrangement. The 18.99 incarceration rate is the highest in Texas. Hudspeth County, way out west right next to El Paso County, has 25 of its 3,556 inhabitants jailed for an incarceration rate of 7.16, but with 119 jail beds, they've got plenty of room.
Frio County must have expected real trouble at some point. The county has a population of 16,490 and 391 jail beds, enough for one of every 42 persons. As it happens, only 32 of those beds are filled on an average day.
Hays County has the opposite problem with too few beds to meet demand.
Nobody likes to talk about jails. For many people, the whole point of jails is to throw problems into the hole and forget about them. But as Hays County goes to the trouble and expense of arresting, trying and convicting people, it has run out of space in the hole.
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