DALLAS — Over two dozen counties in Texas are close to overcrowding at their jails, according to the Texas Commission of Jail Standards public records.

What You Need To Know

  • In Dallas County, the jail reached 100% capacity earlier this month, according to county commissioners

  • According to the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office, the jail facility can house about 7,100 inmates, but according to a Dallas County judge, there’s extra space

  • In other cities like Houston, officials are having to send inmates to neighboring states because their facilities are over capacity

  • Dallas County Sheriff Marian Brown wrote an open letter to the public saying the jail was near full but not at max capacity

In Dallas County, the jail reached 100% capacity earlier this month, according to county commissioners.

“We were at a place where we were 100% full a little over a week ago,” said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins.

According to the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office, the jail facility can house about 7,100 inmates, but according to Jenkins, there’s extra space.

“As we sit here today, we have 7,422 beds available today in our jail, and only 16 them, 194 of those are filled. So there’s an excess of over 400 bed capacity there,” said Jenkins.

But during a Dallas County Commissioners Court meeting, the county’s Criminal Justice Department director sounded the alarm that the jail exceeded capacity.

“We are in crisis. We are at 100%. Our bookings are at record levels,” said Charlene Randolph earlier this month.

Jenkins says there are many factors that cause a surge. He says there’s an increase in inmates processed during the summer and software issues that can delay an inmate’s release.

“We have some computer issues that we’ve had to work through. So, there’s been some issues with one of our jail towers needing to take some beds offline to fix a fire safety situation, so all those things come together. But I’m really proud of the management. The team here at Dallas County did so that we could stay in compliance with the beds and not just send people out of town or out of state,” he said.

In other cities like Houston, officials are having to send inmates to neighboring states because their facilities are over capacity.

“Harris County right now has people in Louisiana, have people in Mississippi, and they’re paying to the tune of about $50 million over and above their regular budget,” says Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price.

In San Antonio at the Bexar County Jail, public records show it reached near capacity at 96% in August.

But Jenkins says that at this time, there’s no need to send inmates anywhere.

Dallas County Sheriff Marian Brown wrote an open letter to the public saying the jail was near full but not at max capacity.

“Information was broadcast that the Dallas County Jail was ‘in crisis,’ and jail population was at 100% capacity. This was not accurate information,” Brown said.

“Right now, I don’t believe we’ll need to send people to other places. We are looking at what would be the best thing if that did have to happen,” said Jenkins.