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Harris County Sending TDCJ Bound Inmates Elsewhere

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Harris County, TX – The Harris County Sheriff’s Office has outsourced the housing of a small number of inmates who have been sentenced to serve terms in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ).

Approximately 100 TDCJ sentenced inmates have been transferred into the custody of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office in anticipation of their delivery to a TDCJ prison facility as ordered by the courts.

National standards recommend maintaining a jail population at no greater than 95% of a facility’s total capacity. On Monday, approximately 95% of the Harris County Jail’s 9,400 person jail capacity was reached, prompting jail managers to temporarily transfer those TDCJ sentenced inmates to the Jefferson County facility via the LaSalle Corrections Corporation.

In previous years, the Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) increased the number of variance beds available to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office to accommodate a higher volume of inmates. Variance beds allotted by the state are not intended to serve as a permanent solution to an ongoing problem.

This is not the first time the Harris County Jail has been compelled to outsource inmates due to capacity limitations. In 2009, the jail’s population peaked at 11,500 inmates, necessitating the outsourcing of inmates to facilities located in both Texas and Louisiana until 2012. In 2014, then Sheriff Adrian Garcia relinquished nearly 700 TCJS approved variance beds, thereby diminishing the jail’s capacity to house inmates based upon their individual classification and or special needs.

Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman noted that dynamics outside of a Sheriff’s control often contribute to the rise of inmate populations. “Our responsibility is to provide for the care, custody and control of inmates in our facilities. In large part, the jail population is controlled by the courts, who identify the offenders to be released pending adjudication and those to be detained until trial.”

The Beaumont based Jefferson County Downtown Jail is the closest facility at the disposal of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.

Jefferson County Downton Jail
c/o LaSalle Correction Corp.
1001 Pearl Street, Suite 101
Beaumont TX, 77701

Visitation Hours: Mondays 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM, Wednesdays 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM, Sundays 8:00 AM – 12:00 AM.

General information is available at: 409-434-4653, or online at http://www.co.jefferson.tx.us/Sheriff/pn.htm

For a statewide search for inmate housing locations visit: https://www.vinelink.com/vinelink/initSearchForm.do?siteId=44900

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