GATESVILLE, Texas (KXXV) — The Coryell County Jail is paying to house inmates out of the county, to help relieve the number of inmates held at the jail.
“The inmate population hovers around 200. Well, we can only have 125 here – so, if you start doing that math,” Coryell County Sheriff, Scott Williams, said.
Williams said the jail is averaging about $100 a day to hold an inmate out of the county. The sheriff says it can add up to nearly $7,000 to $11,000 a day.
It has pushed the budget over, and resulted in cost cuts to extra inmate programs, like group meetings or church services. Williams said it is impacting their day-to-day lives.
Coryell County Commissioner, Scott Weddle, says no one saw this coming.
“We couldn’t tell there was going to be a large influx of inmates this year,” Weddle said.
“There is really no explanation for that. We did build an expansion, which is going to relieve some of that pressure, but the county is still going to house inmates out of county.”
Meanwhile, Williams said this could have been avoided a few years ago. A bond for a new jail with more room was proposed, but it did not pass.
Now, the sheriff and county commissioners are working together to trim some areas in the county’s overall budget to address the shortfall.
They are also working to determine a realistic jail budget for the 2025 fiscal year, but Williams says that’s where this could start impacting the community.
“The community needs to come together, because that's going to involve a tax increase," Williams said.
"There needs to be an extensive amount of workshops and meetings, made public. It should be convenient for folks to sit and discuss it, because in the end, it's going to affect them."
Coryell County held a three-day workshop this week to develop the 2025 budget. The sheriff’s office is set to be discussed on Friday morning at 9:30.
