HAYS COUNTY, Texas — Travis County unanimously voted Tuesday to help house some of the Hays County inmates.
The Hays County population is growing and so is the number of inmates. To put it simply, the Hays County Jail is just too full.
According to our partners at the Austin American-Statesman, between 2010 and 2018, the inmate population grew 75%.
The jail can only house about 311 inmates in its general population. So far in 2019, the county's average daily jail population is 531. Most days, nearly half of the inmates are housed elsewhere.
The Travis County Commissioners Court voted Tuesday morning to house some of the inmates, according to online records. Hays County already has a similar agreement with a dozen other counties.
The Statesman reported that Travis County will house up to 50 Hays County inmates a day at a cost of $2,000, or $40 per inmate per day.
Travis County Jail has plenty of space to take in more inmates, the Statesman said. The jail, which is Travis County's biggest expense, can hold up to 3,155 inmates and houses an overage of 2,150 inmates a day.
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