Future County Building Projects
Recently, when it comes to the reports of new buildings, there has been a lot of talking but not much listening – or reading. In the last few months, both on the radio and in the newspaper, I have discussed the three buildings committees we have created and the reason for the committees. Simply put, we are a growing county that has an increased need for infrastructure and as part of that we must take a look at our existing buildings, identify the needs of the future, and then determine what we need to do to address those needs. So, at my request, which the commissioners agreed with and are participating in, building committees were created to look at how to address three main projects; jail expansion, a new courthouse, and a new south county annex.
In the next few weeks, I will address each of these issues, but today I will start with the jail. Currently, the county jail was finished in 2006 and was large enough to handle the needs of a county with a population of about 35,000. We are approaching that population quickly and currently see a jail that is full and often forces us to house inmates in other counties costing the taxpayers of Milam County quite a bit. Further, new laws on bail reform will most likely see those numbers continue to increase. The increased jail population and the new jail standards have created a necessity for us to look at our jail and the future of the current location and the possibility of a new location.
Two needs that also have to be addressed that are different in 2026 than they were in 2006 are juvenile detention and inmates with mental health issues. As I wrote several weeks ago, the state of Texas ranks 51st in the nation (yes, we rank behind Puerto Rico) in mental health issues, but we are almost equal to that in our handling of juvenile issues as well.
We currently house around 30 folks in our jail whose mental health issues we are working through and any juveniles requiring detention have to be taken to Victoria for housing which requires transportation and then adds an additional cost of around $350.00 per night. As I mentioned about mental health a few weeks ago, it can also be said about the state of juvenile services in the state of Texas; these two are indeed as insidious as they are neglected by the state and federal governments. Point is, these two factors need a solution and neither the state nor the federal governments are coming to our aid – we have to do this ourselves.
So, as the committee has begun to work through this process, we are approaching it from the standpoint of how we address the need for not only more space, but to handle the need for mental health care and juvenile detention, which both have to be addressed along with the increase in space for the regular inmate population. Currently in the state there are only two county jails that contain mental health pods; Harris County and Bell County. So, while these seem like relatively simple issues to process, it really is a paradigm shift for most counties and a huge lift for a county our size. And to top it all off, a juvenile facility will need to be separated from the general population and from the mental health population.
And to answer a recent question to the editor of one of our local papers, yes, we know the current jail was created by refurbishing an older building into the current jail with enough space to add on to the existing jail; however, the nature of what we are addressing creates the possibility of the necessity for a second facility. This is why we created a committee to look at the situation rather than going off half-cocked to avoid creating a money pit as was done with the refurbishment of the buildings I inherited when I took office.
In the end, the creation of this committee was done to give us a well-thought-out plan to address the “how”, the “when”, and the “where” this will happen. A plan that will help utilize our current structure and/or create a structure, or structures that will last for the next 20-30 years and help Milam County be as prepared as possible in the future.
