By Marthe Stinton
The Courier-Gazette
COLLIN COUNTY, Texas — Collin County Sheriff Terry Box and a committee of county employees said that a mountain of paperwork is plaguing the county’s criminal justice system and costing taxpayers almost $70 a day.
State law says the state has 45 days after the paperwork is processed on an inmate to remove the inmate from the county jail. But, until that paperwork is processed the inmate is the county’s responsibility, which not only costs the county money but also fills the jail with state-bound inmates. A longstanding committee made of the sheriffs’ office, district attorneys’ office, district clerks’ office and their legal secretary group have come together to find where the county is lagging when it comes to moving state inmates out of the county jail.
“Over the past year or two the jail population has been going up because once a person is sentenced, we cannot call Texas Department of Corrections to come get that inmate until we have all of the paper work ready,” said Terry Box, Collin County Sheriff. “The average stay of a state inmate is 26 days, but that is 26 days at about $69.79 a day. We are having a slack time in having that paperwork filed properly.”
However, Box said, with the help of Willis and the district clerk’s office, that lag could be eliminated.
“The paperwork goes to one person, gets signed, goes to the judge to get signed, goes to the DA and gets signed and, in the past, has not been pushed off of their desk in a timely manner,” he said. “We have been hollering about it and no one else really has. The new DA--Greg Willis--has got along with our team very well and has been a team player.”
Willis said the goal of his office is to reduce the number of days between the time a person pleads or is found guilty and the time that same person gets transported to prison.
“Accomplishing this will mean less county dollars going toward housing the defendants,” he said. “My office is involved in this effort because it’s part of the efficient administration of justice.”
The jail holds 1,288 beds and, as of Wednesday morning, is holding 1,020 inmates with 88 waiting to be transferred to a state facility.
“We are not overcrowded when it comes to the population,” Box said. “We are probably 75 percent more efficient than every other jail in the state. We are just trying to get leaner and meaner.”
Assistant Chief Randy Clark said the committee meets once or twice a month and has had a subcommittee develop a flowchart to better track the process.
“That by itself should tighten the process up quite a bit because it has accountability attached to it,” he said. “The sheriff is the only person in the process that has a reason to be concerned about this because of the backup in the jail. Some of the other departments don’t have the financial incentive like we do.”
Box said the county is starting the process now in case the state starts looking at ways to cut spending by keeping inmates in county jails for the full 45 days.
“I don’t believe the state will go past the 45 days because it would probably cause another round of litigation from the counties,” Clark said. “But I do see them waiting until the 45 days are up. Right now we are getting them out of here in about 26 days and if the state waited it would almost double that. It starts to back the jail up and boost our expenses.”
Republished with permission from the Courier Gazette