Jail Status Quo Won't Save Money
Roy Maynard
A quick computer query shows that in the nearly four years I've been with the Tyler paper, I've written 692 articles that contain the words "Smith County jail." That's three to four per week, sometimes less and sometimes a lot more than that.
Because I've covered so many aspects of the jail in so many stories, it's easy for me to lose sight of the fact that not everyone reads every story. Believe me, I wouldn't wish that on anyone.
So I want to go over the math of the need for a jail.
The idea for this column was planted by a reader who suggested that building a new jail would actually be more expensive than just continuing to ship our excess inmates to other counties.
We looked at that prior to the May 2006 bond elections. It's time to revisit the issue.
Now, I can explain the math without taking a position on the current $125 million bond proposal, because the need for a new jail is the one thing the "votes yes" and "vote no" groups - the Build the Jail Committee and Citizens for the Right Jail Plan - can agree on.
Let's start with what we're spending now.
Jail operations currently cost about $15 million per year. Of that total, more than $3.5 million goes to other counties in payment for housing our inmates.
Broken down another way, it costs us about $36 per inmate, per day to house them here. It costs an average of $41 per inmate, per day to send them elsewhere.
If voters approve the bond package on Nov. 6, though, our costs will go up. After all, we'll be adding not only debt service on the bonds, but also an estimated 115 new jailers.
County Auditor Ann Wilson says the yearly cost will rise by $2.8 million.
So that reader is right - as things stand now, it would be cheaper to just keep sending them to other counties.
The key phase, however, is "as things stand now."
Shipping prisoners will only remain financially advantageous as long as three things don't change: our jail population, what other counties charge us, and the availability of those jail beds.
If any one of those variables changes for the worse, the math changes for the worse, too.
Let's look at each of them.
We know that Smith County continues to see dramatic population growth. The jail reflects not only that growth, but also the increasingly urban nature of Smith County. So the jail population is actually increasing faster than the general population.
How fast? According to the master planners at Carter Goble Lee, the county's population grew by 11 percent between 2000 and 2006. But the jail numbers - the "average daily population" (ADP) - increased by 28 percent during that same period.
That trend is expected to continue. The ADP in 2006 was 1,035. By 2012, we can expect an ADP of 1,146. In 2017, it could be at 1,279. And in 2022, it is projected to be 1,412.
If the cost per inmate, per day stays at $41, the balance tips when we ship out 188 additional inmates - that's when it will be more expensive to send them elsewhere, than to keep them here in a new jail.
But that's a big "if." And historically, we know the cost has gone up. In May 2004, when the state issued its remedial order against Smith County, the per diem was $40. Now, it's as high as $43, although the average is $41.
There are some hidden costs in this part of the equation, too: transportation to and from other counties and inmate medical expenses (which we can't control when they're not here).
We can expect the cost to continue to rise. How high can it go? Well, some counties in California pay more than $100 per day for each inmate.
What drives that cost up is our third variable: the availability of beds.
As of Sept. 1, according to the Texas Jail Commission, 89 of the state's 254 counties are currently housing some of their inmates in other counties. Smith County ranked third in number, just below Harris and Lubbock counties.
And the fact is that the state prison population is rising, but there are no new state prisons being built. That means an already-strained county jail system will become even more so.
As the beds elsewhere fill up, those counties will be able to charge whatever they want - and they will, as their own taxpayers would reasonably expect.
And when those beds are full, we're in trouble.
So yes, it would be cheaper to continue sending inmates elsewhere - for now. But remember, it takes time to build a jail. Construction must begin before the need becomes critical, or the financial hit becomes much harder.
Early Returns is the political observations column of staff writer Roy Maynard, who can be reached at 903-596-6291 or at roymaynardtmt@gmail.com.
Because I've covered so many aspects of the jail in so many stories, it's easy for me to lose sight of the fact that not everyone reads every story. Believe me, I wouldn't wish that on anyone.
So I want to go over the math of the need for a jail.
The idea for this column was planted by a reader who suggested that building a new jail would actually be more expensive than just continuing to ship our excess inmates to other counties.
We looked at that prior to the May 2006 bond elections. It's time to revisit the issue.
Now, I can explain the math without taking a position on the current $125 million bond proposal, because the need for a new jail is the one thing the "votes yes" and "vote no" groups - the Build the Jail Committee and Citizens for the Right Jail Plan - can agree on.
Let's start with what we're spending now.
Jail operations currently cost about $15 million per year. Of that total, more than $3.5 million goes to other counties in payment for housing our inmates.
Broken down another way, it costs us about $36 per inmate, per day to house them here. It costs an average of $41 per inmate, per day to send them elsewhere.
If voters approve the bond package on Nov. 6, though, our costs will go up. After all, we'll be adding not only debt service on the bonds, but also an estimated 115 new jailers.
County Auditor Ann Wilson says the yearly cost will rise by $2.8 million.
So that reader is right - as things stand now, it would be cheaper to just keep sending them to other counties.
The key phase, however, is "as things stand now."
Shipping prisoners will only remain financially advantageous as long as three things don't change: our jail population, what other counties charge us, and the availability of those jail beds.
If any one of those variables changes for the worse, the math changes for the worse, too.
Let's look at each of them.
We know that Smith County continues to see dramatic population growth. The jail reflects not only that growth, but also the increasingly urban nature of Smith County. So the jail population is actually increasing faster than the general population.
How fast? According to the master planners at Carter Goble Lee, the county's population grew by 11 percent between 2000 and 2006. But the jail numbers - the "average daily population" (ADP) - increased by 28 percent during that same period.
That trend is expected to continue. The ADP in 2006 was 1,035. By 2012, we can expect an ADP of 1,146. In 2017, it could be at 1,279. And in 2022, it is projected to be 1,412.
If the cost per inmate, per day stays at $41, the balance tips when we ship out 188 additional inmates - that's when it will be more expensive to send them elsewhere, than to keep them here in a new jail.
But that's a big "if." And historically, we know the cost has gone up. In May 2004, when the state issued its remedial order against Smith County, the per diem was $40. Now, it's as high as $43, although the average is $41.
There are some hidden costs in this part of the equation, too: transportation to and from other counties and inmate medical expenses (which we can't control when they're not here).
We can expect the cost to continue to rise. How high can it go? Well, some counties in California pay more than $100 per day for each inmate.
What drives that cost up is our third variable: the availability of beds.
As of Sept. 1, according to the Texas Jail Commission, 89 of the state's 254 counties are currently housing some of their inmates in other counties. Smith County ranked third in number, just below Harris and Lubbock counties.
And the fact is that the state prison population is rising, but there are no new state prisons being built. That means an already-strained county jail system will become even more so.
As the beds elsewhere fill up, those counties will be able to charge whatever they want - and they will, as their own taxpayers would reasonably expect.
And when those beds are full, we're in trouble.
So yes, it would be cheaper to continue sending inmates elsewhere - for now. But remember, it takes time to build a jail. Construction must begin before the need becomes critical, or the financial hit becomes much harder.
Early Returns is the political observations column of staff writer Roy Maynard, who can be reached at 903-596-6291 or at roymaynardtmt@gmail.com.
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