Harris Co. Commissioners approve $25 million request to move overflow inmates to other prisons
HARRIS COUNTY, Texas - UPDATE: Late Tuesday night, the Harris County Commissioners Court approved Sheriff Ed Gonzalez' request for $25 million to house overflow inmates in a private West Texas prison.
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With Harris County's criminal court system mired in delay, dysfunction, and hobbled by a monster case backlog, the Harris County Jail population is busting at the seams - currently at 99.8% of capacity with 9,688 inmates.
"We are just not going to have the capacity to sustain a jail operation," warned Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez.
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Gonzalez pleaded with the Harris County Commissioners Court to fund a $25 million plan to shift inmates to a private West Texas prison.
"We are not going to get out of this anytime soon. We really don't have a choice, in my opinion," said Gonzalez.
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Advocates for jail inmates objected, calling the transfer of prisoners to a facility 500 miles away "inhumane."
"Post, Texas is eight hours away. This puts undue stress on those who are already struggling in life," said Mo Cortez, an opponent of the outsourcing plan.
"Consider what it means for them to be forced to wait for their day in court so far away from their legal support and their loved ones," said Diana Williams of Grass Roots Leadership.
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But former Harris County Sheriff, now Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia, responded with a reality check.
"Having an overcrowded jail is immensely inhumane," said Garcia.
With the cost of outsourcing housing for inmates set to leap to $40 million per year, Judge Lina Hidalgo offered a question.
"Where exactly is the bottleneck? I frankly don't know what the bottleneck is," said Hidalgo.
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Deputy's Union President David Cuevas says as cited in a federal lawsuit filed by his members, the jail overcrowding crisis must be relieved, or more inmates and potentially detention officers will die.
"There is no choice. We need the Jail Commission to come back in and do another inspection. Maybe they (Commissioners Court) will start listening then. We have to relieve that pressure," said Cuevas.
Sheriff Gonzalez repeated his call for criminal court judges to work "nights and weekends" to lower the six-figure case backlog.
Gonzalez also said if Harris County does not secure the jail space in West Texas, other jurisdictions are eager to pay for it.
Harris County has already transferred inmates to a facility in Louisiana.