American Rescue Plan Act funds to cover out-of-county housing for Nueces County inmates
The ballooning costs associated with housing inmates in out-of-county jails to alleviate overcrowding in the Nueces County Jail will be covered by federal dollars.
The Nueces County Commissioners Court on Wednesday unanimously voted to use American Rescue Plan Act funds to recuperate the money spent last fiscal year and through the current fiscal year (until Sept. 30) on out-of-county inmate housing.
Since July 2021, agreements to house inmates in the Victoria and Aransas county jails have cost Nueces County more than $420,000.
The court discussed revisiting the issue later in the year to extend the allocation of funds should relocation of inmates still be needed past Sept. 30. The allocation was approved by Hagerty Consulting, a firm the county retained to advise commissioners on how to use ARPA funds in accordance with federal rules.
This week, Nueces County Sheriff J. C. Hooper said he does not "see an end in sight" in regard to the relocation agreements.
"I can't predict that right now," Hooper said. The sheriff said the overpopulation is a result of COVID-19-related stoppages in the criminal justice system in recent years and subsequent court backlogs. "There are many moving parts. ... It's kind of an interesting animal because these other jails (in Texas) are struggling with population and staffing."
More: Nueces County has an overpopulated jail and a court backlog. Here's what's being done.
Last month, Nueces County judges during their monthly meeting discussed establishing a temporary auxiliary court that would be tasked solely with cases in the backlog.
The jail submits monthly population reports to the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, a state regulatory agency overseeing Texas county jails. The latest May report shows the Nueces County Jail was at 91% capacity with 1,063 local inmates.
Hooper said he considers a jail at or above 90% capacity to be overpopulated. He said that capacity hinders jail staff's ability to process incoming inmates' level of risk and determine where they should be located.
In June 2021, a TCJS state inspector found the jail was non-compliant after discovering inmates were kept in holding cells for more than 48 hours. Hooper said this was a result of overpopulation.
The jail regained compliance in part because of arrangements with the Victoria and Aransas county jails to temporarily house up to 20 Nueces County inmates each when the jail population rises above 90%.
As of Tuesday, 28 Nueces County inmates were held in out-of-county jails: 21 in Victoria County and seven in Aransas County.
Chase Rogers covers local government and industry in South Texas. Contact him at chase.rogers@caller.com or on Twitter @chasedrogers. You can support local journalism with a subscription to the Caller-Times.
This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: ARPA funds to cover out-of-county housing for Nueces County inmates
