State Conference Highlights

On the second day of this year’s Annual State Conference, the host county of Galveston logged 1,164 prisoners in its 1,171-bed jail.
Some 150-200 of those inmates belong to the state, and several hundred “are bond eligible but are just sitting there,” said Galveston County Sherriff Gean Leonard.
“We need to be gutsy, creative and innovative,” Leonard told county judges and commissioners gathered in Galveston for the 85th Annual County Judges and Commissioners Association of Texas State Conference.
Some 275 commissioners court members were on hand Sept. 24-27 to discuss the latest issues affecting grassroots government including subdivision regulations, tax abatements, bridge maintenance and jail population control.
Leonard was one of six experts asked to address the ever-present challenges of jail overcrowding and understaffing. Fellow panelist Robert Green, jail administrator from Montgomery County, said a staff analysis completed by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) yielded a recommendation of 79 additional staffers needed to resurrect hundreds of beds that lay dormant in the Montgomery County Jail due to the worker shortage.
Adan Munoz, executive director of the TCJS, summarized the status quo with the following statistics:
Some 85,000 jail beds in Texas filled to 85 percent capacity
More than 10 county jails at 100 percent capacity or more
267 facilities with 35-37 out of compliance, due mostly to overcrowding
“We try to be on the same side and the same page as the sheriffs and commissioners,” Munoz said. “If we find deficiencies, they will be brought to your attention to keep the liability down.”
Several panelists referred to the recent tragedy in Huntsville, when two inmates working in a prison garden wrestled guns from two guards on Sept. 24, exchanged gunfire with other officers, and stole a pickup truck, running over and killing one of the guards as she tried to stop them.
Overcrowding in county jails may double the incidence of violence, said Robert Davis, regional counsel for the Texas Association of Counties.
Leonard encouraged officials to prepare for the future by “determining what you’re going to need in 10 years, plan for it, and build twice the amount.”
The educational conference featured several other expert panels including one comprised of Rep. Craig Eiland, D-Texas City, Rep. Joe Heflin, D-Crosbyton, and Sen. Kyle Janek, R-Houston.
“What you do is inarguably the most powerful job in the country,” Janek told the audience. “We’ve made it difficult for you,” he continued. “For the life of me, I can’t figure out why we’ve made taking care of poor people a job for the counties.”
Janek proposed his plan for meeting the indigent health care challenge: Direct money and indigent patients to the state’s medical schools. Janek pledged to look for other areas where legislators have blurred the line between the state and county, shifting state burdens to the county level.
The enormous strength of the commissioners court was demonstrated in the defeat of proposed appraisal and revenue caps during the last few legislative sessions, Eiland said.
“We rely on you all for information,” Eiland continued. “When dealing with legislators, don’t assume they know everything.”
Heflin, a freshman legislator and former county judge, told officials: “Don’t be afraid of Austin