By Kim Hilsenbeck
Sitting on 22 acres on Uhland Road in east San Macros are two Hays County buildings. One houses the 911 dispatch center, along with other divisions of the Hays County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO).
The adjacent building houses 327 county inmates. Or at least it did on Feb. 4, as the count fluctuates daily.
What is not fluctuating is the collective will of county officials who have been contemplating a jail expansion since 2005. Those same officials now say it’s time to get serious about expanding the Hays County Jail.
“We’ve found ways to make it work and get as much life and utility out of it as we could,” said Commissioner Will Conley in a recent interview.
Some of those ways include moving cases through the system faster, which gets inmates, most awaiting trial, out the door quicker.
Capitalizing on technology, the jail uses video magistration – a judge reviews cases with defendants via video conferencing.
“This past Saturday morning, one magistrate went through 30 cases from home,” Conley said.
Other tactics include not taking citizens to jail for lesser infractions, including expired drivers licenses and possessing small quantities of illegal substances. They are still cited, just not booked into the jail.
“We prevented 103 people from walking through those jail doors last year,” said Sheriff Gary Cutler.
But that “Band-Aid” approach is no longer an option.
Conley said the foundation of the 25-year-old facility is sound; it’s what can’t been seen that is troublesome.
“The guts are just old and worn out; we’ve taken it as far as we can go,” he said.
Cutler echoed Conley’s comments, saying while the jail is clean and easily passes state inspections, his concerns are inside the walls, such as the electrical system and the technology used to run the facility.
While the nitty gritty details are undecided, Conley said the court and the sheriff’s office agree they want to expand and upgrade the existing facility, or possibly build a new building on the exiting site, as opposed to building a new facility on a different site.
“We do not want to go through relocation negotiation,” he said.
Capt. Mark Cumberland said they considered a multi-level expansion, but that would not be ideal.
“Logistics are more of a concern with multi-level facilities,” he said. “They have their difficulties.”
More floors mean more officers, among other issues.
Conley said an internal team is reviewing the design from an operational standpoint to be more efficient.
The existing site has other limitations, including being near a flood plain, the Lower Colorado River Authority power lines on the property and the city water/wastewater lines beneath the land.
According to Conley, the jail is the next internal infrastructure project for the county.
“A lot of things have been kicked down the road,” he said. “[The jail] is the top priority.”
Conley said discussions about the expansion include a new law enforcement facility and a co-located communications center, i.e., 911 dispatch, both of which are outgrowing their existing space. The co-located center would house dispatchers from law enforcement agencies as well as fire and emergency medical services.
Hard and fast numbers on the cost of an expanded facility are not yet on the table, but Cumberland projects a need for more than 600 inmates. For now, county and jail officials are gathering data, visiting other jails and talking to experts. Such visits offer an opportunity to discuss logistics, operational layout and costs, lessons learned and the pros and cons of various designs.
No time line has been set for the expansion.