Inmate outsourcing bill over $2 million

As October comes to a close, the cost of outsourcing inmates continues to mount.

Each week, Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra reads a report compiled by the Hays County Sheriff's Office detailing outsourced inmates. 

In 2019, the County has spent a total of $2,359,768 on outsourcing since it began reading reports from the Hays County Sheriff's Office in the last week of January. This number does not include the six weeks that the commissioners court did not meet or did not read outsourcing information. 

Hays County spent $82,963 to outsource inmates during the week of Oct. 20 - Oct. 26, and the average number of outsourced males was 192, with an average of 18 outsourced females. Inmates were outsourced to the following counties: Bell, Burnett, Caldwell, Fort Bend, Guadalupe, Travis and Walker. 

The average weekly cost over the past 33 weeks during which inmate outsourcing has been presented is $71,508.12. If this average rate continues, by the end of 2019 Hays County could spend $3,718,422.30 to outsource inmates. 

In June, the average weekly cost to outsource was only $66,017.33, which meant a projection of $2,970,779.91 for outsourcing in 2019. Since the cost to outsource has risen, the yearly projection has likewise risen approximately $747,000. 

The highest cost to-date to outsource inmates occurred on the week of July 21-27, when Hays County spent $86,149 to outsource inmates to nine different counties across Texas.

The data compiled on a weekly basis by the Sheriff's Office does not include the cost of transportation of inmates to each county. 

“We would have to take the hourly rate for the transporting officer (or two if it was required) and the total time for each trip along with gas costs (.545 cents per mile) and any wear and tear on the transport vehicle to come up with a cost for each trip,” Lt. Dennis Gutierrez, Public Information Officer for the Hays County Sheriff's Office, said in an email. “We don't keep track of those stats at this time.”

During a Commissioners Court meeting on July 30, Pct. 3 Commissioner Lon Shell noted that it would cost more money to keep inmates housed in Hays County, which is data that is not included in the weekly report. 

“I think that’s what we’re all trying to work to do - to find efficiency,” Shell said. “So it’s not about outsourcing versus here, it’s how can we reduce that overall population and reduce the growth of that population over time through efficiencies within our system.”