Nueces County TX Sheriff Jim Kaelin is looking at ways to reduce overcrowding at the jail and bringing in more money for the county, as reported by KRIS-TV:
At just under 90 percent capacity on Friday, the Nueces County Jail was close to be being overcrowded and Kaelin said some of the inmates shouldn’t even be there. “Most of those that are in here are in here for a technical violation,” Kaelin said. He added that 88 inmates are in the county jail for violating their parole, which means they were arrested for not checking in with their parole officer or were caught violating their curfew. Kaelin said those inmates are costing the county a lot of money and he’s considering releasing them from the jail. “If push comes to shove, I’m going to put those non-offenders, those people who are out in parole violations, out of the jail,” Kaelin said …
He also said it is not the county’s responsibility to lock up inmates that were let out early from state prisons. “I hate to see that: money being spent on housing violators that belong to the state. If the state believes they’ve screwed up on a technical violation, then take them back to the penitentiary. Don’t use your county lockups,” Kaelin stated.
If the sheriff can free up enough space in the jail, he could house between fifty to sixty federal inmates, which would bring money to the county and help with balancing the budget.
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Nueces County TX commissioners are moving forward with solving the overcrowding issue at the county jail, which is one step closer to bringing federal inmates back to the jail.
Commissioners plan to spend nearly $1.8 million to get the McKinzie Annex up to state standards, which should open up space for 48 additional prisoners. In spite of continued growth over the last two decades, Sheriff Jim Kaelin said the last time Nueces County updated facilities was with the opening of the Waco Street Jail in 1991.
On Wednesday morning, the jail was filled at 95 percent capacity and it has to be at 75 percent to even consider bringing in federal prisoners. Due to that percentage, Kaelin said opening up the McKinzie Annex needs to be a priority. “To court, that pod’s got to be open if there is anything in the future in regards to federal inmates coming back into our facility. I cannot do it, as it stands now,” Kaelin said.
The MSNBC story has more details.
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A newly formed county court is helping to speed up the wheels of justice while lowering its jail population, court officials say.
Jail court, which began in October, is the result of a plan from the Council of Judges to lower the number of prisoners in the Nueces County TX Jail awaiting trials. A visiting judge will preside over the court on the first and third Mondays of each month. The first jail court started Oct. 20. Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos, administrative judge for the local district judges, said she already has seen the benefits of jail court. One defendant who had been in jail for 260 days was sent to jail court and his case was disposed. By referring that case to jail court, the judge was able to try another case at the same time in her court. That defendant had been in jail for 163 days …
Ramos said the Commissioners Court allocated about $71,000 for the jail court, which will be used to pay the visiting judges. There is no additional cost to the county for staffing the jail court because existing resources are being used — but some planning is required. Ramos’ court manager handles the referrals for cases from the district courts and prepares the lists of cases for jail court. The court administrator also makes sure there is a court reporter, clerk and bailiff available for each jail court. The jail court’s location will depend on which courtroom is available that week, Ramos said.
More on this interesting development at the Caller Times.
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