Sheriff urges support for new jail as local intake climbs above 100

Officials from the Maverick County sheriff's office said the county’s jail is under significant pressure and asked regional partners for help identifying funding sources and preliminary construction estimates. A sheriff's representative said local inmate housing rose from about 30–40 county inmates during earlier years to roughly 110–120 now, reducing flexibility to accept transfers and complicating operations.

Sheriff's office staff described the county jail’s design capacity as 250 but noted usable capacity limited to about 210; they asked for rough cost estimates for building a new facility sized to 600–800 beds so the county can plan for both local needs and potential contracts with other counties. The office said one contracting scenario discussed at the meeting was housing 200 inmates at $85 per inmate per day (an estimated $6 million per year), and officials said building capacity could create revenue and reduce pressure on taxpayers.

Discussion sessions also covered staffing and retention: officials said the county pays below peer agencies and is pursuing retention tools including SB22 supplemental funding (mentioned during the meeting as a program that can supplement officer pay). Other participants urged the county to consider non‑carceral alternatives and to separate revenue motives from decisions about incarceration; the sheriff's office said capacity constraints already force decisions about who can be detained.

Next steps: sheriff's office was asked to deliver ballpark land and construction cost estimates for a 600–800 bed facility at the next workshop and to continue exploring retention and alternative programs.