Ector County Jail in need of more room, staff members – NewsWest9.com

ECTOR COUNTY, Texas The Ector County Jail addition was supposed to get done in November, but there is still a long ways to go before construction and staffing is completed.

The problem is twofold, there is not enough space at the jail and there are not enough jailers.

So whats the solution? The jail has been moving inmates to other counties but it is costing taxpayers a pretty penny.

The Ector County Commissioners Court voted to to take any necessary action and pay the cost needed to house Ector County inmates to other county jails.

Right now, were still understaffed in our detention center," said Eddie Mancha, ECSO Chief Deputy. "We're hiring several people but we still dont have enough staff due to overcrowding.

Not only is there not enough room, Mancha says Texas laws require one officer for every 40 inmates and there are not enough jailers to go around.

Were having to move them to other counties until we can get enough staff to bring them back to Odessa," Mancha said.

It's been tricky to find county jails in the lone star state that have room.

A lot of counties know theyre maxed out, short staffed, where they cant be taking any other inmates," Mancha said."So we have to check around the state of Texas."

Moving inmates to other jails, like Kerr County, is costing Ector County.

Depending on the contracts with the other counties," Mancha said. "We have close to 200 inmates farmed out to other counties so the total is very expensive.

Let's break those numbers down a bit:

We have many openings and once we have staffing we'll be bringing inmates back," Mancha said. "That way the money can stay in Odessa."

Taxpayers are going to have to keep paying that cost to move inmates out to other counties until the jail expansion is done. Once complete, the jail will be able to house close to 1,000 inmates.

ECSO hopes the jail will be ready in early 2020.

If you would like to apply for one of these positions, you can click here.

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Ector County Jail in need of more room, staff members - NewsWest9.com