Numbers, costs continue to fall

The cost of outsourcing Hays County Jail inmates to other lockups fell again, according to figures presented to the Commissioners Court Tuesday.

In what has become a weekly tradition, County Judge Ruben Becerra read a rundown of the jail population, number of inmates outsourced, the counties they were taken to and the cost to local taxpayers.

The capacity of the current jail, which is in the process of expansion, is 362, but the population is effectively capped at 311 because the Texas Commission on Jail Standards recommends leaving 10 percent of the beds “open.”

Becerra said the jail’s daily average was 475, with a peak on March 2 of 480.

He said that for the week of Feb. 24 to March 1, 150 male inmates and 7 female inmates were outsourced to lockups in Burnet, Caldwell, McClellan and Limestone counties at a cost of $53,374.

That’s down from a high of $68,258 for outsourcing 192 males and 12 females during the week of Jan. 27 – Feb. 2.  From Feb. 3 – 9, there were 170 males and 12 females outsourced at a cost of $61,507. During the week of Feb. 17 – 24, the cost fell to $55,389.

“That’s a crazy amount but lower than it’s been so that’s a good thing,” Becerra said after reading the most current numbers. Becerra is currently working to establish a criminal justice commission to address what he has called a number of issues that factor in jail overcrowding, something his chief of staff Alex Villalobos is to play a key role in.