By Cindy Ramirez
El Paso Times
EL PASO, Texas — A $44 million expansion of the El Paso County Jail Annex is in the works to accommodate a growing number of inmates who find themselves mostly waiting to be processed through the criminal justice system, county leaders said.
“This is something we’ve been anticipating for a number of years now,” said Sheriff Richard Wiles. “We’re planning for the future as a growing population typically also translates into a growth in crime and arrests.”
The expansion would fit an extra 430 inmates into the jail annex, which has a capacity of 1,450 and is 95 percent full at any given time. The Downtown Detention Facility, which can house up to 1,000 inmates, is at about 96 percent capacity.
The jails hold people who have been accused of crimes but haven’t been convicted, as well as those who commit misdemeanor offenses.
Wiles said it’s more cost-effective to expand the annex than the Downtown jail, and anticipates revenues received from the state to house its inmates may increase to help offset operation costs.
“It’s not just about money,” Wiles said. “It’s really about public safety and the benefit to law enforcement in general.”
Wiles said that’s because having an overflow of inmates could lead to the mandatory release of some of them or could require inmates to be sent to private jails in Otero County or Sierra Blanca. That would mean the inmates would have to be transferred across long distances between the jail and the County Courthouse, which could pose a danger to the community should there be an escape, Wiles said.
The annex at 12501 E. Montana in far East El Paso County opened in 1997 as part of the Leo Samaniego Law Enforcement Complex. The annex has 12 pods of inmate cells that surround a central guard station. The maximum security jail houses only men. The 310,400-square-foot Downtown jail, also a maximum security facility, opened in 1983 across the street from the county and federal courthouses. The Downtown jail houses men and women.
“The expansion of the jail is one of our pressing needs,” County Judge Veronica Escobar said. “There had been a lack of planning in the past, and now we’re faced with these projects we have to address.”
County commissioners last week approved publishing a notice of intent to issue up to $110 million in certificates of obligation for a number of projects, including the proposed jail expansion and the completion of the Tornillo port of entry.
Certificates of obligation, which are paid back through property taxes, do not require voter approval. Commissioners will vote June 11 whether to issue the certificates. If approved, the tax impact would be between 1.7 cents to 1.9 cents per $100 property valuation. That’s an increase of about $1.96 in property taxes per month for the average county homeowner, officials said.
With the anticipated approval of the certificates of obligation, the expansion could be well under way by year’s end and take about 18 months to two years to finish.
The county’s contract with the U.S. Marshal’s Office expires in less than a year. Renegotiations could lead to additional revenue as the cost to house inmates increases. Currently, the Marshal’s Office pays the county $70 per day per inmate, which brought in nearly $17.7 million during the last fiscal year.
It costs nearly $29 million a year to operate the annex, and about $33 million a year to run the Downtown jail.
“The county doesn’t absorb the cost entirely,” Wiles said.
Escobar said the expansion project should create up to 50 new jobs and add $8 million to the annual payroll in the region.
Part of the $44 million will be used to upgrade the annex’s security systems, Wiles said.
Included in the allotment is $1.5 million to replace security control systems such as cameras and door and audio controls; $800,000 to redo the port where inmates are loaded into and unloaded from vehicles for transport; and $720,000 for video-visitation equipment that will allow family members and attorneys to visit with the inmates without having to be present in the facility.
The expansion will also include an area designated for inmates with mental health issues, said Lt. Michaela Hebeker, program development and quality assurance unit supervisor for the annex.
“By keeping them together they are not only better supervised, but they are provided better treatment with the assistance of area agencies,” Hebeker said. “They require special care because of their needs with medication and counseling.”
Hebeker said about 34 percent of the inmates at the jail are identified as having some kind of mental health concern, from anxiety to bipolar disorders.
Wiles said aside from the general population growth, the county is facing an increased number of Fort Bliss personnel entering the criminal justice system. To try to curb that, he said, the county is working with the post to ensure soldiers who commit minor offenses are turned over to their officers for military discipline when it’s most appropriate.
“In general, I agree we only need to lock up people who need to be locked up for the safety of the community,” Wiles said. “Locking up too many people puts a tremendous burden on the taxpayer.”
Wiles said the jails run several education and job skills programs, as well as a non-denominational ministry, to reduce the number of inmates who return to the jail system.
The offerings include a new dog training program. Most of the programs are paid for through the commissary fund, money inmates pay to purchase sundries and personal items.
“Having people in our jails and prisons is not the answer any of us want,” Wiles said. “but that’s what the laws dictate for people who break them.”
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