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State officials have rejected a request from Sheriff Adrian Garcia to increase the capacity of the Harris County Jail and said local leaders have not done enough in recent years to reduce the inmate population.
The inmate population at the state's largest lockup has fallen in recent months after exceeding building capacity for the first time in two years last September, but the Sheriff's Office says it is too close for comfort. The population is known to swell in the summer months by as much as 1,000 inmates, said spokesman Alan Bernstein, noting that Garcia's request was intended to create some "flexibility" as county leaders work to reduce the jail population.
The building capacity of the county jail system is 9,434; the population on Monday was 8,814.
Garcia last week asked the Texas Commission on Jail Standards for permission to increase the number of supplemental beds used when the population swells, replacing 680 hard plastic cots with 1,064 metal bunk beds. He also asked that the jail still be able to use up to 100 mobile cots known as "boats" or "low-riders."
The Texas Commission on Jail Standards agreed only to let Garcia replace the 680 cots with bunk beds to save 5,000 square feet of floor space, keeping the inmate capacity the same.
Commission Executive Director Brandon Wood said Harris County has "made some great strides in regard to being able to reduce their inmate population." Asked if the county has done enough, though, he said the commission was "not provided definite, specific programs" by the county that "they've actually had up and running for any period of time."
