Posted on 05/13/2006 7:33:53 AM PDT by SwinneySwitch
Lucio wants facility for 96 prisoners serving time for non-violent offenses
OLMITO - Cameron County Sheriff Omar Lucio is asking county and state leaders for approval to build a "tent city" to temporarily house inmates and alleviate overcrowding at local jails.
Lucio said county officials recently approved converting a Sheriff's Department warehouse into a 400-bed detention facility for non-violent offenders, but added that existing facilities are strained.
If approved, it would be the only such facility for Texas prisoners.
Department figures show that the four county jails have a combined capacity to house 1,390 inmates. Lucio said the facilities are just shy of reaching capacity.
A state law requiring county jails keep 10 percent of their beds free at all times means the sheriff must maintain 139 empty beds.
To meet those requirements, Lucio said he plans to ask the Cameron County Commissioner's Court and the Texas Commission on Jail Standards for permission to set up four Army tents to temporarily house 96 non-violent inmates serving their convictions locally for offenses such as DWI and failure to pay child support.
"The Texas Commission for Jail Standards may approve the use of tents for the temporary housing of inmates when a need is clearly identified by the sheriff and Commissioner's Court," Lucio said. "What we want here is 10 months to a year."
County Judge Gilberto Hinojosa could not be reached for comment, but Lucio said his department has developed a security and emergency plan. He expects county leaders to approve the proposal.
The sheriff said the structures would be placed in the rear parking lot of the Carrizalez-Rucker Detention Center, an area behind a series of two chain-link fences alternately topped with barbed wire and razor wire.
Miles of brush extend from one side of the detention center. Three subdivisions and a Los Fresnos elementary school stand about a mile to the west.
"We will have jail guards there plus a deputy and a K-9 dog. ... This is one way we might alleviate the problem," Lucio said of the county jail overpopulation.
TCJS Executive Director Terry Julian said state law allows for county jails to set up tents as temporary housing for inmates under a series of guidelines that regulate security as well as health, safety, weather and sanitary conditions.
If approved, Julian said Cameron County would be the only Texas county to establish a tent operation.
"The last one they had was in Jefferson County (Beaumont), and they just had it for a short period of time a few years back," Julian said. "We'll just have to talk to them (Cameron County) about it and see what their plans are."
The local setup would be similar to those being used in Maricopa County, Ariz., where Sheriff Joe Arpaio opened the nation's largest tent prison in 1993, according to the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office Web site.
Also on Friday, Lucio said his department has corrected problems identified in a Jan. 24 TCJS inspection which showed safety concerns at the Old Cameron County Jail in downtown Brownsville and the Carrizalez-Rucker Detention Center in Olmito.
The report also said the Brownsville facility did not have a working intercom system and that the Olmito facility, the proposed site for the tent city, did not have a working fire alarm system.
Lucio said an inmate jailed in a padded cell for behavior problems tore out a fire sprinkler and knocked out the alarm system the day before the inspection.
The sheriff said his department corrected the problems at both facilities in February and is preparing a report to send to state officials.
A Brownsville Fire Marshal's inspection on Friday cleared all four county jail facilities.
I'LL BUY A TENT!!!
Welcome to the WAR! I suspect, if the Military is actually sent to the border, We'll need a lot more of these tent cities.
Build the tent cities on the border. That way the inmates can work on building the wall.
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