Operation Lone Star: El Paso County lost $10 million
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- The County of El Paso approved today an item that authorized El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego to seek reimbursement for state inmate's expenses paid by the County this year.
If approved, the County could receive up to $5 million, which will reimburse the $3 million the County has spent and the rest to keep moving forward with housing state inmates at County facilities.
El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego told ABC-7 they have gone from having nearly 800 spaces for federal inmates to only 58 this year.
"And it's not only the loss of the revenue that's hurting us. It's also the fact that when it's a federal inmate, everything is covered from mental health, they have to go to UMC. All of those charges are charged to the federal government. Now that they're state, we take care of the entire cost of an inmate," said County Judge Samaniego.
This year, the county has lost about $10 million in federal revenue for having fewer beds for federal inmates and they expect to lose $18 million by the end of this year.
"We won't be able to get reimbursed for the loss of federal money. We're only going to be reimbursed by the cost of maintaining a state prisoner, maintaining all the health and mental health, and all the court costs and everything." County Judge Samaniego added.
The only way for the County to have additional capacity for state and federal inmates is for the state to open up a state facility. Now the Rogelio Sanchez state facility by the County Jail Annex is being considered to be opened as an additional space for inmates.
According to Judge Samaniego, District Attorney Bill Hicks is currently negotiating with the office of Texas Governor Greg Abbott to open this facility.
"I've stayed away from any disaster declaration. As you know, I've always avoided that because there were some other implications, but now, because of the impact on our community, because we are restricting it to just to the cost of having somebody to our jails that's going from a federal charge to a state charge," County Judge Samaniego added.
