El Paso County Commissioners discuss current situation at the county jails

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- During their Monday session, El Paso County Commissioners saw a presentation showing factors currently impacting the population at the Downtown Detention Facility and the Jail Annex.

County officials working with the justice and community support department presented data on the current numbers and the trends they have seen at the jails in recent years.

ABC-7 has previously reported on some of the issues the county has faced with the recent rise in the population of state detainees at the jails, which has left the facilities with fewer spaces for the federal inmate population, which in turn has left the county with less federal funding.

According to the county executive director of justice and community support, as the federal population goes down, that has a major impact on revenue and impacts on the justice system.

"We aren't back to pre-pandemic booking levels yet, but we are seeing an increase in booking over time," said executive director Joel Bishop.

Executive Director Bishop said Texas Operation Lonestar, rise in bookings, and inmates staying longer than they should are some of the factors making the state population at the county jail go up.

The county receives significant revenue from being able to use the Downtown Detention Facility for federal beds, which its availability has gone down in recent years.

According to data provided at the presentation, the county currently has roughly 70 inmates; in previous years they used to house between 700 to 800.

The presentation shows that in Fiscal Year 2021, the county received over $17.2 million in federal revenue, last Fiscal Year 2024 until August they received $5.6 million.

"Another big impact is we've had to replace the sewer system in the downtown jail, and that's cost us about 200 beds right there as we've had to close to upgrade that. There's nothing we can do about that, but those kinds of projects have a big impact," said Executive Director Bishop.

The Downtown Detention Facility has to close one floor at a time due to sewer system updates, costing the availability of approximately 200 jail beds which cost the county to lose around $20,000 in federal revenue daily.

These projects are expected to be completed in August 2025.

El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego also mentioned they have been dealing with the change of having a lot of federal crimes turned into state crimes.

"For state inmates, we don't get any reimbursement from the state. With the federal government, we get $101 for every inmate per bed. That could be a loss of as much as $20 million," said Judge Samaniego.

But that's not the only issue the county is dealing with at the Jail Annex and Downtown Detention Facility.

"What is very worrisome is that we're trying our best that we can not to have inmates that have mental health issues. And what's happened because they have mental health issues, they're the ones that are staying the longest; and the more they stay in jail, the more likely they come back," Judge Samaniego added.

Both the Downtown Jail and the Jail Annex can house up to 2,592 inmates; they are currently housing 2,349 which is 95% of the system capacity and 91% of their total capacity.

Executive Director Bishop also said during the presentation, over 40% of Texas jails have to outsource their beds to other jurisdictions, many are out of state and many in East Texas.

Since 2018, over 2,000 inmates have been outsourced to out-of-state jails because of a lack of room.

Harris County will spend almost $60 million this year outsourcing beds, and Bexar County is spending millions of dollars as well.

Judge Samaniego also said they don't want to reach capacity at both facilities because that will make them send inmates to other counties or to private jails.

This means inmates will be further away from the court and the due process.

"Once a crime was committed in the county, immediately they become ours. I don't care if we send them somewhere else, I don't care what happens, they are our responsibility, which means that if they go into a private jail and they're not treated properly or not given the due process, we're responsible for that. And so that's why we're trying to avoid any tipping point," Judge Samaniego added.