COMAL COUNTY, Texas -- After almost 20 years of holding a maximum of 337 inmates, the Comal County Jail is getting a much-needed expansion. The jail hasn't had an upgrade since the late '90s and it currently holds just 337 beds.
"There was a bond package passed by the voters of Comal County, and when we open up our new facility in the fall of 2019, we'll have beds for 585 inmates," Comal County Sheriff Mark Reynolds said. "We'll have our beds for mental health or people in crisis. We've gotten with the Jail Commission and they said that was very forward thinking on the part of Comal County, and it's all in compliance with the Sandra Bland Act."
The way the architects designed the buildings, there will be room to expand to nearly 1,000 beds. The facility will include a "pod-design" concept, with a second floor that can overlook the inmates from floor to ceiling, top to bottom, and side to side
This is a $76 million project and includes renovating the existing jail into a much-needed expansion of the sheriff's Office. Reynolds said that right now, there may be as many as four employees crammed into an office meant for one.
The jail is also currently at capacity, meaning prisoners are being held in surrounding counties. Taxpayers are currently spending around $4,500 a day holding prisoners elsewhere, due to the lack of space in the current jail.
"With the opening of this new facility, we'll be able to bring all of those out of county prisoners back here and hold them here," Reynolds said. "It'll save the taxpayers money, because last year, I think we were somewhere in the neighborhood of $1.8 million that we spent on out of county prisoners."
This expansion has the potential to bring in additional revenue for the county.
"If we should have space, we could also utilize that space to hold other people's prisoners and recoup some of those monies," Reynolds said.
The facility is designed with the county's future growth in mind.
"With that influx of people, you have more people that would violate the law and thus in turn have to have the space for them in a jail," Reynolds said.
After the jail is completed, the renovation on the Comal County Sheriff's Office will take place, gutting the current jail into much-needed office space
"We're just excited. This will be a showcase piece," Reynolds said.