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Houston judges responsible for massive jail overcrowding tab

The Harris County Commissioners Court has just one group to blame for their budget busting jail overcrowding woes: Local district judges who overuse pretrial detention in order to funnel money to bail bondsmen or help the DA's office extract guilty pleas.Proponents of building a new jail in Harris County like to point out that nearly 20% of Harris County's approximately 11,730 jail inmates either sleep on "transitional" cots on the floor or in leased space in Louisiana.However a big portion of those extra inmates don't really need to be there, and the tab (in jail costs) for Houston judges' insistence on jailing them is rising. The Harris commissioners court this week approved a $15 million contract to move another 1,000 Houston inmates to the Bayou State, reported the Houston Chronicle ("Harris County rejects leasing Galveston jail, June 4"):the Commissioners Court on Tuesday approved one-year contracts with three Louisiana parishes to house up to 1,000 inmates at a cost of up to $15 million...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on June 04, 2008 (boomark / email).