1. Jail Repairs Displace Inmates, Costs County
October, 15 2009 – Natalia Montemayor, University Star
While incarcerated at the Hays County Jail in 2000, Todd Dietert, 36, made it a
point to avoid contact with both quarrelsome inmates and the ever-present mold
in the showers.
“We’d wear shower slides on our feet, but the showers were so small you
couldn’t avoid coming into contact with the wall, which was covered in mold and
mildew,” Dietert said.
Dietert eventually suffered a staff infection, which he attributes to the jail’s
teeming population.
“I stayed in a 40-man tank with bunk beds and guys sleeping on the floors ... with
that many people in that close of a vicinity, tensions and the risk of sickness are
high,” he added.
The same sanitary issues were cited Sept. 15 and Sept. 16 as areas of non-
compliance during the annual county jail inspection given by the Texas
Commission on Jail Standards.
Adan Munoz, executive director for TCJS, explained the jail has been at non-
compliant status since an April 23 inspection. The inspectors cited a leaking roof,
broken toilets, as well as mold, mildew and rust in kitchen and holding areas.
Munoz explained the Hays County Commissioner’s Court was required to
respond with a corrective plan of action to make the jail in compliance with state
regulations following both inspections.
“If there is still leakage, then we will ask the inmates be vacated and moved to
jails in other counties,” Munoz said.
A practice that Sheriff Tommy Ratliff says costs Hays County $50 a day per
inmate.
“Currently we have 55 inmates being held in the Guadalupe County jail ... so if
we were to get shut down that’d mean we’d be shipping out up to 350 inmates.
You do the math,” Ratliff said.
Ratliff has worked toward improving the jail’s condition since Sheriff Allen Bridges
died in December, and had requested the April inspection from the TCJS.
“From what I understand, the jail was an issue the last two sheriffs wanted to
resolve, so the best way to figure out the exact problems was to have the
inspectors come through,” he said.
Ratliff said the 280 jail employees took care of smaller maintenance work such
as painting, but the court arranges high-cost repairs.
“We will fix the facility in order to get up to the standards for the state, but we
have no choice but to build another facility,” Ratliff said.
During Tuesday’s Commissioner’s Court meeting, $1.5 million was allocated to
repair the jail’s roof and kitchen flooring.
Judge Elizabeth Sumter discussed an additional $200,000 for a long-term needs
assessment to be performed by Austin-based consulting firm Broaddus &
Associates.

2. “We will start working on the roof on the first of November, but we had to make
sure the structure itself can hold it, and that is why an assessment is necessary,”
Sumter said.
Sumter said the epoxy used in the roof emits fumes. November is convenient for
repairs because workers will not need air-conditioning, which would spread
fumes.
The project will take roughly 60 days to complete, and if needed, prisoners will be
removed temporarily from the site.
County Auditor Bill Herzog said a contract has yet to be awarded to a developer.
“We have gotten bids, and plan to award a contract within the next week or two,”
Herzog said.
Herzog said $538,000 would be used for future repairs on the walk-in freezers
and air-conditioning within the jail.
These renovations are a part of a large-scale project that includes a new justice
center, courts, a District Attorney’s office and a place for citizens to pay tickets
and taxes.
“I think the best path to take would be to look to the future, and for a new
location, although that in itself would take a year,” Sumter added.!