Sheriff says not housing federal inmates would cost taxpayers more

El Paso Sheriff Richard Wiles said opting out of a program to house federal inmates in El Paso jails would cost taxpayers more money, but Commissioner Vince Perez says it’s time to review the deal that, he says, taxpayers are subsidizing.

El Paso County receives $80 a day from the federal government for each federal inmate housed and Perez said it costs $87 a day per inmate, leaving taxpayers paying the difference of about $5 million a year.

Wiles says opting out of the program would leave taxpayers footing the bill for other things.

“There’s a lot of cost in play that will still be there even if you got every federal prisoner out of the jails,” said Wiles, who pointed out that a portion of the reimbursement for housing federal inmates helps pay for other things, like administration and supervision, as well as depreciation of buildings and maintenance. “I do not believe we are losing any money. I think we’re actually we’re getting money from the federal government to support our jail operations.”

According to county jail data, between fiscal year 2014 and now, the number of federal inmates housed in El Paso jails was more than 15,000. The revenue derived from that period was close to $56 million, at least $32 million of which was from immigration related cases.

“For a county of our size with limited resources, it makes absolutely no sense to maintain such an arrangement,” said Perez, who argued taxpayers still have to pick up an average of $5 million a year in costs, despite the reimbursements, because El Paso jails are housing about 25 percent of the state’s federal inmates — more than any other city’s.

Perez also believes one jail would be more efficient than two. “It make no sense for a county of our size to have two jail facilities,” Perez said.

But Wiles says El Paso needs a Downtown jail. “We need a Downtown jail. All major cities have a Downtown jails,” Wiles said. “You need centralized booking. Can you imagine a west side police officer or deputy having to come all the way over here to the East Side to book a prisoner?”

County Judge Veronica Escobar said the County is working on yet another study. “What we’ve been waiting on is a better understanding and a closer analysis of those numbers,” Escobar said. “It is really a complicated issue and the decision will create a domino effect.”

Wiles said that domino effect would include the loss of 200 jobs in El Paso and an increase in taxes to maintain the jails, due to the loss in government revenue.

Perez says the question is whether taxpayers want to keep paying for those jobs, keep the aging downtown jail open and keep subsidizing a contract they’re not obligated to have.

Perez has placed an item on next week’s Commissioners Court agenda to discuss withdrawing from the federal inmate program.