The 2016 Public Safety Bond’s passage came against a backdrop of jail overcrowding.
The bonds allowed for the expansion of Hays County Jail and at least until that is completed, some of the Hays inmates are being outsourced to other county lockups.
Each week, County Judge Ruben Becerra gives a public presentation of how many inmates are outsourced, where they were taken and at what cost to taxpayers.
For the week of Oct. 20-26, the cost of outsourcing was $82,963. The jail’s average population during that time was 549 with a peak of 556. Becerra said 192 males and 18 females were taken to lockups in Bell, Burnet, Caldwell, Fort Bend, Guadlaupe, Travis and Walker counties.
The week prior, 175 male inmates and 20 females were taken to Bell, Burnet, Caldwell, Fort Bend, Guadalupe, Travis and Walker counties at a cost of $77,878.
The maximum capacity of the jail is 362; however the Texas Commission on Jail Standards requires that a 10 percent “buffer” be observed, meaning the jail’s population is kept at 311.
