EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — El Paso County commissioners heard a presentation during its meeting on Monday, Nov. 4 about the County Jail population.
According to the presentation, data shows a decline in federal inmates since 2019 while showing an increase in state inmates in El Paso County jails. The presentation also showed that there could be a lack of federal funding because of this increase.
“There hasn’t been a decrease in the federal population. There’s just a decrease in the amount of people we can hold here. And in El Paso, because we don’t have the capacity, so that impacts us,” Joel Bishop, the county executive director of justice and community support, said.
The Downtown jail and the El Paso County Jail Annex combined can house 2,592 inmates.
The presentation also showed that there are nine factors adding to the increase of state inmates:
Bookings
State policies and legislation
Law Enforcement
Jail infrastructure upgrades
Mental health
Pretrial and probation violations
Administrative practices
Courts
District attorney practices
County officials add that they work closely with law enforcement to make sure the local jails don’t reach maximum capacity.
Read: Read More