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In an try to deal with overcrowding within the Montgomery County Jail, the county will start doling out hundreds of {dollars} every day to relocate some prisoners.
Montgomery County Commissioners Court docket on Tuesday authorized a movement that can outsource about 45 prisoners to the Waller County Jail. The transfer comes at a $75 every day value for every outsourced prisoner, or $3,375 a day.
Montgomery County Sheriff Wesley Doolittle mentioned that Montgomery County will nonetheless be accountable for transporting the inmates to and from court docket. Waller County will present housing, meals and primary medical wants.
The settlement between the counties was reviewed and authorized by the county lawyer’s workplace and signed by Waller County officers.
“About 70 to 80 % of inmates in our jail are pre-trial felons and we’re actively working with the judges to get folks launched that don’t have to be there, particularly these which might be terminally ailing or getting right into a state that will get tougher and dearer for us to handle them,” Doolittle mentioned.
The Montgomery County Jail had an inmate inhabitants of 1,263 as of Wednesday. The Texas Fee on Jail Requirements, the state group that units and oversees jail rules, solely permits the county to accommodate about 90 % of what its able to housing, Doolittle mentioned. The county jail’s inhabitants has been operating wherever between 94 and 116 % not too long ago, posing a serious concern for these charged with sustaining the jail’s compliance with the state.
On Tuesday, Doolittle mentioned he fears the state might contemplate closing the county jail if it’s not in compliance. Nonetheless, counties getting into a non-compliant standing with the jail fee doesn’t instantly immediate the state to shut amenities — as a substitute, the entity works with counties to return into compliance via remedial actions.
In Harris County, a persistent failure to adjust to state requirements prompted the fee to request that Texas Lawyer Normal Ken Paxton intervene earlier this yr.
Montgomery County commissioners on Tuesday tossed out different concepts to deal with overcrowding points. Commissioner Charlie Riley requested if the inmates might as a substitute be housed underneath tents. One other requested if they might transfer some grownup inmates into the identical constructing as juveniles, probably in a unique wing.
Underneath the state’s native authorities code on county jail amenities, a sheriff and commissioners can request the fee to authorize using tents to briefly home prisoners “when a necessity is clearly recognized.”
The Montgomery County Jail is sort of 40 years previous, and Doolittle mentioned that the county wants a bigger area for prisoners sooner or later. In February, the jail added 64 beds to the ability in an try to deal with spacing points.
Commissioners then agreed to work with the sheriff’s workplace to take a look at the feasibility of a possible growth.
Doolittle additionally mentioned that the sheriff’s workplace is actively working with U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement to take away unlawful immigrants from the jail.
“I feel at one level we have been as much as about 115 [immigrants], and I feel they’ve picked up about 75 of them, if I’m not mistaken,” Doolittle mentioned. “I feel we now have about 50 [immigrants] proper now.”
