Cass County sees cost of running jail

By Bobby Horn Jr.

news@casscountynow.com

LINDEN—Running and maintaining a jail is not cheap, especially when that jail is in its second decade of service. Cass County is learning that lesson.

Since 2003, the county has put close to $100,000 in repairs and equipment upgrades into the county’s jail says Sheriff Larry Rowe.

The most recent expense, Rowe said, was to replace a chiller unit on the a/c which stopped working in early March. “We were lucky the a/c went out when it did because it wasn’t too hot outside,” Rowe said. “If it had happened this summer it would have been a lot worse.”

The new chiller set the county back $33,000. This was not an optional cost for the county. “We have to keep operating with minimum jail standards (required by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards) or they will shut us down,” Rowe said.

According to the Texas Legislature, “it is the duty of the Commission to promulgate reasonable written rules and procedures establishing minimum standards, inspection procedures, enforcement policies and technical assistance for: the construction, equipment, maintenance, and operation of jail facilities under its jurisdiction; the custody, care and treatment of inmates; programs of rehabilitation, education, and recreation for inmates confined in county and municipal jail facilities under its jurisdiction.”

Rowe said that he wanted to give a special thanks to Mike Berry, of Jerry Berry Air Conditioning & Electric, who drove with the jail’s maintenance expert Buddy Erwin, to Shreveport to pick up the chiller unit.

The chiller is just the most recent of expenses the county has faced with the jail. The jail’s flattop roof has been known to leak. A recent leak damaged an electrical switch box. The box is responsible for turning on the jail’s backup generator in the event that power from SWEPCO is interrupted.

The county has also replaced hot water heaters, the camera system, a generator and jail locks among equipment.

“After 20 years things are going to break down and they have to be replaced,” Rowe said.

Erwin noted that another challenge facing the jail is finding replacement parts that are compatible with the 20-year old technology in the jail. “We either have to find someone who has the old parts in stock or we have to adapt what we do have.”

On average the county has spent between $25,000 and $30,000 a year in repairs to the jail during the past three years alone.

Repairs not the only expense

On March 14, the jail was housing 51 male inmates and one female inmates. The female was is awaiting transfer as Cass County is not certified to house female inmates and must be sent to another county for housing. In order to house female inmates, a jail must be built in such a way that male and female inmates are out of sight and hearing of each other at all times.

Rowe said that while they have 90 beds, the state will not allow them to house more than 80 since some beds must remain empty.

Also keeping the county from filling all of its available beds is a state law that prevents inmates with felony offenses from being housed in the same cell as those with misdemeanor offenses. Other inmates, such as those who are sex offenders, have to be segregated from the general population.

Housing inmates in other counties costs the county between $25 and $35 per inmate, per day. With 81 inmates, male and female combined, being housed elsewhere the cost comes in around $2,500 a day. This cost does not include medical and dental expenses and transportation back to Cass County for court appearances.

“It (the jail) has outlived its capacity,” Rowe said. He added that the county is looking at its options, but that they do not have the land to simply expand the existing jail.