Hays County Jail renovations almost complete

Hays County renovations almost complete

FOX 7 Austin got an inside look at the Hays County jail renovations that are almost complete. Inmates who have been staying in other counties may also soon come back.

HAYS COUNTY, Texas - Renovations to Hays County Jail are almost complete, and inmates who have been housed in another county may soon come back.

What they're saying:

"No one wants to outsource inmates anywhere, we want our inmates to stay here," Hays County Sheriff Anthony Hipolito said.

For years, about 200 Hays County inmates were sent to Haskell County.

"Our goal is to start bringing inmates back October 1st," Sheriff Hipolito said.

Hipolito said he has been pushing for this.

"Although it’s more expensive to house inmates here, for me it’s about the efficiency of the justice system. People can come visit them, they can go to court a lot easier, they don’t have to take three- or four-hour rides," Sheriff Hipolito said.

He said the jail renovations needed to be completed and they needed more staff.

"With our jail renovations being 20 days away from being completed and the way that we’re hiring right now, it’s looking promising that we’ll be able to bring back 100 inmates back from Haskell County," Sheriff Hipolito said.

That leaves about 100 inmates still in Haskell County.

"But we do have a plan in the next year, 18 months to have all inmates back here in Hays County," Sheriff Hipolito said.

What's next:

He said the next step is increasing jail capacity.

"With a growing county obviously comes more crime and our jail population is continuing to increase at times," Sheriff Hipolito said.

They are currently housing around 575 inmates with capacity at 603. He said they are working with the district attorney’s office, pretrial services, and judges to try to move inmates through the justice system quicker to open beds.

"Our goal and their goal is to continue to work together, collaborate and come up with different ideas and different programs that would allow us to release folks on a PR bond or certain conditions. We’re not going to let people out willy-nilly, just because we’re out of room, but it’s something we take very seriously and we’re working every single day with those groups and they’re great to work with," Sheriff Hipolito said.

The Hays County Commissioners Court is expected to approve more correctional officer positions in the next fiscal year’s budget.