Because the Travis County Jail population has decreased in recent years, the Sheriff’s Office has agreed to house 50 inmates from Hays County, which has an overcrowding problem. This has prompted concerns over mandatory overtime, but Major Wes Priddy said it’s unlikely deputies will have to be forced to help out, it would eventually lead to folks wanting to work overtime, rather than it being mandated.
However, there is opposition as Commissioner Brigid Shea doesn’t like that idea very much at all. Shea finds it hard to justify paying overtime, even if it is on a voluntary basis, and reopen something that has been shuddered because we are working to not put people in jail who shouldn’t be.
Nevertheless, the vote was eventually unanimous to take on those 50 inmates at a cost to Hays County of $3500 per day, or $70 per inmate per day.
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