Milam County Law Enforcement Center Open for Business

The new Milam County Law Enforcement Center is a product of teamwork among leaders throughout the county, said County Judge Frank Summers.
“We had reached the point where we were actually making jail payments to other counties to house our overflow of inmates,” Summers said. The commissioners court, law enforcement officials, and a county-appointed jail committee joined forces to stop this negative cash flow and keep the prisoners at home.
Interestingly, this new 160-bed facility was initially “the jail that should not be built,” the judge explained. At first the committee unanimously agreed that Milam County did not need a new jail. However, after 18 months of study the committee did a unanimous about-face culminating in a law enforcement center that includes office space for the sheriff and Department of Public Safety, and office and courtroom space for the justices of the peace.
The jail is easily expandable to 320 beds and includes over-sized support areas to allow for additional equipment as the need arises.
“With our current average jail population of around 70 inmates, we will have beds available to house prisoners for other counties, and this will help pay the debt incurred for the new facility,” Summers said.
An unexpected consequence of the jail construction is that the inclusion of an old hospital in the project improved the looks of that area of town by cleaning up the block and incorporating an old, unoccupied, somewhat dilapidated building into the new law enforcement center for office space.
The county originally purchased four and