As Bexar County struggles with a jail population that has swollen beyond its walls, Sheriff Javier Salazar has sounded an alarm to county officials. The Bexar County Adult Detention Center, with a capacity for 5,075 inmates, is currently grappling with an overflow, housing a staggering 5,144 individuals as of last count. This uptick in numbers is being ascribed, in part, to what Salazar describes as a "big increase in domestic violence crimes," per a report obtained by KSAT.
With the facility over capacity, the sheriff's department has been compelled to transfer some inmates to neighboring counties. According to information shared by Salazar, 157 inmates have now found temporary housing in Burnet and Kerr counties. This remedy, however, comes at a cost of $65 to $85 per day for each inmate, a financial strain directly borne by the taxpayers, as reported by TPR. The sheriff insists his preference would lean towards local housing options, but the current fiscal prudence demands these inmates to be placed elsewhere.
In conversations with county commissioners, Salazar has placed emphasis on immediate needs such as funding for overtime costs incurred by the Bexar County Sheriff's Office. This overtime results from efforts to manage the jail's overpopulation effectively. Meanwhile, Precinct 3 County Commissioner Grant Moody has hinted at the potential need to consider increasing jail capacity in the near future. This approach could alleviate the overflow and possibly reduce the cycle of transferring inmates and the associated costs.
The overcrowding issue is further complicated by delays in state prison transfers. Sheriff Salazar noted around 200 inmates are currently ready for such transfers but remain in the county's care longer than expected. The Texas Administrative Code mandates that the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shall pick up inmates sentenced to prison within 45 days. Still, any bottleneck in this process exacerbates the county's overcapacity situation, as Salazar told KSAT.
Salazar's commentary to county officials also counters a narrative that law enforcement might be soft on crime. Asserting the opposite, Salazar pointed to the bulging jail population as evidence of the sheriff's department's commitment to holding violent offenders accountable. This aggressive enforcement seems to be reflected in the grim statistic that the homicide rate in Bexar County for 2024 has already outpaced the previous year's total, with a significant portion attributed to domestic violence.
