Motion to terminate County’s contract to house federal inmates fails

A motion by county commissioner Vince Perez to terminate a federal contract that pays the county to house federal inmates in its jails has failed.

El Paso County receives $80 a day from the federal government for each federal inmate housed, and Perez said it costs $89 a day per inmate, leaving taxpayers paying the difference of about $5 million a year.

But not everyone agrees with these numbers.

“On average it may cost $89 a day to house a prisoner, but the federal prisoners cost less than the state (prisoners),” El Paso County sheriff Richard Wiles said. “If I thought for a minute this was good for El Paso, I would be the one bringing it up,” Wiles said. “It’s not good to lose the revenue stream.”

Perez argued that if the County were to terminate this contract, it would also be able to get rid of the downtown county jail.

In his presentation, Perez said the cost of running the downtown jail is over $36 million, and the cost of running the annex in far East El Paso is around $33.5 million.

While Wiles acknowledged that the downtown jail is not as efficient as the annex, he said it’s still necessary to have because it provides centralized booking.

The rest of the county commissioners and county judge Veronica Escobar said they need more data before they can come to a decision.

“To put is in a position where we would have to make a decision without all the information — without a comprehensive holistic view of everything — is unfair,” Escobar said.

Perez said he first brought this issue to Escobar last fall. It was his understanding at that time that she would be around for at least two more budget sessions. Escobar said in the past she’s strongly considering running for congress, so it’s not clear if she will be around for two budget sessions.

“I don’t know if he thinks that I’m the third vote, and if I suddenly disappear, his third vote goes away. I don’t think that gives his other peers very much credit,” Escobar said.

Perez said he’s disappointed with the court’s decision.

“This is ultimately what we’re elected to do. We’re elected to provide policy proposals that address serious issues. Unfortunately, now that the commissioners court has kicked this down the road,” Perez said. “I think tax payers are going to be left paying for a very expensive jail system.”

The El Paso County Sheriff’s Officers Association is in favor of keeping the contract in place. In a news release, Sgt. Robert Horstman, president of the officers’ association, said, “we are asking that you do not play politics with our County taxes and our [officers’] livelihood and to oppose the agenda item.”