County to Consider Reopening Jail
Glasscock County Sheriff Keith Burnett proposed Feb. 9 that the county commissioners give consideration to opening the county jail for inmates (ours and others), again. He said the county’s caseload is increasing with more active law enforcement and more tickets are being issued. He said there are now 18 warrants outstanding, all of these offenders would be housed in Reagan County if arrested, at a cost to Glasscock County of $1,000 per month per inmate. Burnett said reopening our jail would save that money, plus bringing in $41 per day per inmate from other counties, like Sterling, who would house their prisoners here rather than in Reagan County as they do now, because it’s closer.
He said reopening the jail would require hiring four full-time and one half-time certified jailers. Burnett said these people would be jailers/dispatchers/custodians. They would handle both Sterling and Glasscock County’s 911 dispatching, he said.
County Treasurer Alan Dierschke estimated the annual cost in salaries and benefits to be $186,750. Burnett said Sterling County would be paying us $70,000 annually, and Glasscock County would save the money it is now paying Reagan County.
Burnett also mentioned the benefits of having minimum-security inmates available to do various jobs in the county. He cited the example of recently paying county road crew for three weeks to paint courthouse doors and the scout hut.
Commissioner Jimmy Strube said he was opposed because of the overtime that would probably be paid. Dierschke said law enforcement is allowed to pay an employee 270 hours of comp time before being required to pay overtime.
Commissioners Michael Hoch and Mark Halfmann said they needed more numbers regarding costs before making a decision.