Commission intends to get to the root of jail problems

Hays County’s criminal justice system has been in the spotlight more than usual in recent months. A Houston Chronicle piece from December 2018 highlighted the impact that judicial backlogs can have on jail populations. In February, the Texas Observer published San Marcos resident Faylita Hicks’ tale of spending 45 days in the Hays County Jail while awaiting trial for a bad check for $25. The two jail reports shared at recent commissioners court meetings have shown that outsourcing cost the county more than $68,000 for the week of Jan. 27-Feb. 2 and more than $61,000 for the week of Feb. 3-9.

Now, Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra is working with criminal justice and law enforcement professionals within the county to create a criminal justice commission that will address the cluster of issues that have led to the outsourcing of Hays County inmates.

“We’re trying to create a commission that has all the facets and components that touch criminal justice in our county, specifically because we want to make sure that each grouping is represented,” Becerra said, noting that there are places on the commission for representatives from various sectors of the community, including mental health care. “But the focus, to be honest and clear, is to have people of the professional capacity to guide criminal justice reform and to push through ideas and suggestions that other counties may be doing.”

Alex Villalobos, Becerra’s chief of staff, is playing a major role in getting the commission together.

He said that so far, the law enforcement agencies, legal offices and county and district judges have given positive feedback on the commission.

“We are in collaboration with all of them, not to mention our juvenile probation and adult probation,” Villalobos said, adding that all the parties involved are tasked with coming up with ideas and making sure they fit with the county’s operational plan and with current statutes.

Among the topics the commission looks to address are pretrial services, facilitating bonds, magistration and ways that law enforcement officers operate in the field. He noted that law enforcement officers and others are being asked about pragmatic issues they see in the field, and policies to help low-risk arrestees spend less time in jail before trial are being examined.

Villalobos said that public safety is a top priority and will not be compromised, but for some offenders, assessments could help them spend less time waiting for trial.

“If we can somehow have the process more efficient by utilizing pretrial services, then it gives them the opportunity for the individual to be out to continue to impact our economy, to continue to take care of their families, themselves, get the resources they need,” he said.

Becerra said he had been aware of Hicks’ story before it was published in the Texas Observer, and in fact before he ran for county judge.

“That is an exact sampling of the things going on in our community that we want to see change,” he said. “It’s real. And people deny its validity … but your denial doesn’t make it untrue.”

ʻHeʼs not the reason itʼs fullʼ

Becerra also said that the jail population is not something that rests on Sheriff Gary Cutler’s shoulders.

“People want to blame a full jail on the sheriff, and that’s inaccurate,” he said. “He’s not the reason it’s full.”

Villalobos, who has a background in law enforcement, highlighted policies like “cite and release” statutes that could help alleviate overcrowding in the jail.

“We want to make sure we are supporting and making every opportunity available for our law enforcement officers to utilize that,” he said. “... And we want to help the corrections side of the sheriff’s office and the whole department in general to feel as though they’re being efficient as well.”

Becerra noted that building a bigger jail is not the way to improve criminal justice in Hays County.

“If we don’t change the way we’re doing business, the way we’re conducting ourselves in criminal justice in this county, when this multimillion-dollar jail expansion is done, we will still be full,” Becerra said. “And people aren’t aware of that reality. For us to think that building a bigger jail is the answer … it’s a very thin slice of the actual problem.”

In an email interview, Cutler said that the new jail will have a maximum capacity of 603, as calculated by Texas Jail Standards.

“However, when you take out specialty housing and the 10 percent Jail Standards availability (the state recommends keeping 10 percent of capacity free), it leave us with 472 beds,” he said. The current maximum capacity is 362, which drops to 311 when 10 percent of capacity is left open.

Cutler said he hopes that the addition of new district and county courts will prevent the need to send inmates to other counties. He also said he does not see one particular issue as being the main cause of overcrowding at the jail.

“We believe the inmate population issue is a combination of factors,” he said, “but we are optimistic the new commission will be able to recommend ideas or programs to commissioners court.”

ʻOne point of efficiencyʼ

Villalobos said the criminal justice commission will look at issues and procedures “from the front line all the way up to the top and back down” to find ways to make the system more efficient — not just in terms of people’s time, but also in terms of taxpayer money.

“I think the judge’s authority with regards to the finances of the county is his justification for looking into some ways to be more efficient across the board. This is just one point of efficiency,” he said. “We want it to come out with a better use of our dollars and better efficiency so we can impact other areas.”

“We want to grab the savings and reinvest them,” Becerra said. “So the savings from within the criminal justice system to reinvest in, for example, a public defender’s office. And I know the things we want to do won’t happen overnight.”

Becerra said there will be a closeddoor criminal justice summit on March 8, and afterwards officials will come forward with statements of intent and action.

“We are putting forth their ideas and bringing them together for them to reflect on,” Becerra said, noting that some strategies like specialized courts — a mental health court, for instance, and the veterans’ court that’s already in place — bear closer examination.

“These aren’t never-heard-of-before ideas,” Becerra said. “This is just us grouping together wonderful ideas and consolidating them in a way that’s useful.”