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By BILL MURPHY
More than half of the 1,300 Harris County Jail inmates sleeping on mats
on the floor because of crowding will get bunks by early next week, Sheriff Tommy Thomas said today.
The rest will get bunks in the coming months as the sheriff's department
begins to rely on overtime and new hires to staff jail areas closed because of staffing shortages, Thomas said.
But the improved conditions come at a price. The sheriff's department
may ask Commissioners Court in the coming months for as much as $8 million to hire more than 150 detention officers, Thomas
said.
And the problem of swelling inmate numbers will plague the county, as
well as the state, for years to come, the told a meeting of the county criminal justice committee.
In the short term, the county will hire more officers and look for ways
to reduce the inmate population. Over the long term, it may have to build more jailsand might look into constructing inexpensive,
barracks-like huts in an outlying, undeveloped area, said Dick Raycraft, county management services director.
The Texas Commission on Jail Standards recently decertified Harris County's
lockup, mostly because of crowding related to jail understaffing.
While the jail commission's action does not mean the jail could be closed
anytime soon, the commission's executive director says county officials must show they are working to remedy the problem.
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