Lampasas County feeling strain of prisoner population Posted On: Tuesday, Nov. 10 2009 05:08 AM By Jackie Stone
Killeen Daily Herald

LAMPASAS -- A spike in Lampasas County's prisoner population raised again the question of the county's need for more jail space Monday morning.

In his regular update to the Commissioners Court Monday morning, Sheriff David Whitis said the county has more than doubled the number of prisoners it houses outside the county since this time last year.

Whitis said the county is currently supporting a daily average of about 29 inmates at facilities in other counties. In October of last year, the county averaged 14 inmates daily housed outside Lampasas County.

"So it's a pretty sizable jump," Whitis said. "We've got them spread all over the place, and I'm starting to have a hard time finding bed space."

Whitis said jail facilities around the state are overcrowded.

County Auditor Jack Clark said that if the number of prisoners and the number being sent out of the county continue to spike, Lampasas County could spend as much as $378,000 to house them this year. Currently, the budget allows for about $275,000, he said.

"We're fixing to run into a brick wall on this jail and housing these prisoners," Clark said.

County Judge Wayne Boultinghouse said voters nixed a ballot item last year to build a new prison facility.

For now, Boultinghouse said the county is waiting until the cost of sending the excess prisoners to other facilities becomes greater that the cost of building a new facility.

"When we have someone in prison, he's going to cost us no matter where he is," Commissioner Jack Cox said.

Whitis said prisoner populations rise and fall regularly, and the growth could continue or fall off.

But Whitis warned that if the county can't find more beds and the County Jail goes over its maximum capacity of 32 beds, it opens itself up to inspection by the state jail commission. If that happened, the county would have to cover the cost of sending those inmates to facilities as far away as Arizona or California.

The prisoner population in Whitis' report falls into two groups: those housed at the County Jail and those the county sends to other facilities because it doesn't have enough room.

Currently, Whitis said officials are housing a daily average of about 29 inmates in the County Jail - edging up against the 32-bed capacity - and 29 inmates at facilities outside the county.

Between July and September, Whitis said the county housed a daily average of 28.5 inmates at the County Jail. In that same time period, it averaged just more than 26 inmates daily at facilities outside the county.

The county currently contracts with Comanche and Taylor counties to take some of the prisoners.

On Monday, the commissioners court agreed to enter into a contract with Upton County, but Whitis said he doesn't expect the new option to relieve much pressure because Upton's bed space is also limited.

Contact Jackie Stone at jstone@kdhews.com or (254) 501-7474.