Travis County Commissioners Court
August 31, 2004
Item 15.f
Jail overcrowding--f. The question there is whether we need to establish
some kind of small emergency reserve in view of the average daily population
study.
>> that could be one-time money.
>> yep. Mindful that normally in early fall is when we see
that number kind of level off and then drop, right?
>> uh-huh.
>> but I would think that mid-summer to early-fall historically
we have seen sort of a ballooning effect.
>> well, for August we saw an average of -- [telephone ringing]
-- 2500 inmates a day. So the number has crept up steadily. If the kind of
trends that we tend to see throughout the year occur, then the numbers should
drop a little bit in November and December, but it tends to go up continuing
through September and October. So, I mean, to answer your question, I do think
that we're going to quickly run out of bed space for the -- and number of
inmates we have considering the number of staff we have. That's the other
portion of the equation is not only the beds, but as far as staff that we
cut last year, at some point you got more inmates than you have staff for.
Then the question becomes do you pay people on overtime, which we're already
doing some of, do you hire additional staff, or do you ship people off to
other counties.
>> does the contract with leo no. A county provide -- limestone
county 40 or 45 a day.
>> it's still $45 a day. I've looked around at other -- that's
the best we can do is the $40 a day. And they do the transport for us, which
is added value actually. The only thing I would like to add is that right
now we are at a really critical point because, as the sheriff said, we averaged
2500 for the month of August. And we do currently have one building closed
that's being renovated with the new air conditioning and heating system, and
while it was closed for that, we took the opportunity to go ahead and do some
reconstruction that needed to happen in the shower areas and the like. And
so when that reopens, that will give us relief. That's 144 minimum beds, and
that's good. That will give us some relief. But if the population continued
to climb as it has, if you've been -- if you have been reading all those e-mails
i've been sending, which it has for the last five months, we will quickly
get to a point where I will have to send them out of county and I would have
to do that very, very quickly. And, of course, as the auditor will tell you,
we have to have the funding in place to be able to do that. Now, absolutely
I’m going to keep the court and everybody elgs apprised of our situation and
we'll ask the sheriff if we can come back and visit if in fact the population
does continue to climb. But at 2500, like we are right now, there's just a
little -- just a little, little bit of room left. And once that room is gone,
then it's either out of county or we violate jail standards, and none of us
want to violate jail standards. Absolutely not.
>> is there a jail overcrowding overtime reserve?
>> not anymore.
>> if we assume 100 in limestone county for 30 days is $120,000,
right?
>> yes, sir.
>> that's a month. Why wouldn't we put in reserve about $250,000
for overtime orout-of-county in the event it's needed.
>> whichever is appropriate.
>> so at least we put tonight reserve. That way -- and actually
what hi in mind was this summer more than this fall and I’m praying every
day the number would start going down.
>> if you had the money, that would be very prudent.
>> and it can be considered one-time money, christian?
>> it's one time if it's not -- it's one time if it's one
time. But I -- the history --
>> temporary as opposed to that is our ongoing strategy that
we need to budget every year.
>> that's a judgment call.
>> and I would say also, particularly if there is the option
of it being -- folks being able to be sent out of county, that would be an
important issue to be able to discuss, or use of overtime also, but with the
commission on jail standards. But that's one of the things that often -- those
of you -- just about all of you have attended a meeting with me at one time
or another. One of the questions they often are concerned about is the staffing
ratios, and so they are looking to make sure that the counties have allocated
sufficient overtime. So I think this would be an appropriate option.
>> the other thing about that is that many of the issues
before you that you all have to decide between now and the end of the budget
process are optional. I mean do you really want to do this or not. But if
in spring everyone gets a letter saying here's where we are on inmates and
we must go out of county or else, it's not optional. We'll have to find it.
>> it seems to me to be prudent to set aside some amount
even if we think that's unlikely. I mean the way the numbers were going. The
other stheupbg that to great extent the numbers are kind of beyond our control
we can manage them a little bit, but you are talking a whole lot of people
involved and even that is -- you never know what number will show up at your
door.
>> it's like herding cats and we haven't spayed the cats.
>> sheriff.
>> shame on you.
>> they keep making more. More and more arrests.
>> anything else on jail overcrowding?
>> judge, I think it's a very prudent decision to have a
research and that's also a relief valve to show jail standards that we've
even thought about that.
>> assuming we do this, what's a good number?
>> I think the 250,000 is probably -- you know, an appropriate
number. You know, it's one of those sort of things that if the population,
if we just blow the cap of it sometime in the -- you know, spring. Hopefully
not this fall, but if all of a sudden it just goes hog wild, you know, I’m
not sure -- I’m not sure where you come up with sufficient numbers. But I
think, you know, ideally, you know, around 250,000 -- somewhere between there
and 300,000 is probably an appropriate number.
>> okay. Christian, good question during budget markup probably
would make sense simply have 250,000 earmarked against the allocated reserve.
That would be a good question to answer during markup. [laughter] [indiscernible].
>> judge, in terms of we do a certain amount, you know, it's
got its own fence around it but it's got an additional ear mark around the
allocated that says we've already talked about this. I'd rather have a real
200 and an ear mark against the allocated for another 100 than to say where
am I getting 300 from.
>> remember christian's words, now, if the revenue is available.
>> it's one time, one time.
>> all right.
>> thank you.
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Last Modified: Thursday, October 27, 2005 11:05 AM