Outsourced inmate numbers spike in most recent reports

Hays County inmate numbers have seen an uptick in the past two weeks after falling gradually since the end of January.

According to a report from the Hays County Sheriff’s Office given to the county judge’s office, the daily average jail population for the week of March 10-16 was 482, with a peak of 498. The daily average number of outsourced male inmates was 152, with an average of four female inmates outsourced each day. The outsourced inmates were sent to Burnet, Caldwell, McLennan and Limestone counties at a cost of $53,048.

For the week of March 17-23, there was an average daily jail population of 488, with a peak of 496. An average of 157 male and four female inmates were outsourced each day. Those inmates were housed in Burnet, Caldwell, McLennan and Limestone counties at a cost of $54,606.

These increases come after a steady decline in jail population and inmate housing costs. During the week of Jan. 27-Feb. 2, the average daily jail population was 537, with 192 male inmates and 12 female inmates outsourced to six other counties at a cost of more than $68,000. By the first week of March, the jail population had declined to 474, with a daily average of 147 male and five female inmates outsourced to four other counties at a cost of about $51,500.

The jail’s maximum capacity is 362, though state jail standards require facilities to keep 10 percent of their capacity open, meaning the Hays County Jail can only hold 311 inmates.