By Scott Allen
Gillespie County commissioners on Monday approved a draft of a contract to house inmates from other counties in the Gillespie County Jail at a rate of $45 per day per inmate.
Counties lacking space to house their inmates can now send them to the Gillespie County Jail at the approved rate. Those counties will be required to pay for any health services provided to their prisoners, except for routine medical services and over-the-counter medications.
If the prisoner being housed has to be admitted to a hospital or other facility and a guard is required, the county will be required to reimburse Gillespie County at the rate of $45 per hour per officer used to perform the guard service.
“The $45 would be more than sufficient to cover our costs,” Sheriff Buddy Mills said.
Once Mills, County Attorney Chris Nevins and County Judge Mark Stroeher have agreed on a draft of the proposed contract, Mills will begin contacting counties he thinks may be interested in housing prisoners in Gillespie County.
“If a commissioners’ court in another county approves the contract, then we will submit it to our commissioners’ court for approval before the sheriff may begin housing another county’s prisoners here,” Stroeher said.
Interlocal agreement
Commissioners also approved an agreement with Lubbock County concerning the Regional Public Defender for Capital Cases program.
This program is a state-wide program that’s meant to save rural counties money when it comes to capital cases, Stroeher said.
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