The Freestone County Jail has been de-populated, unable to house prisoners indefinitely, and its inmates relocated to Limestone County according to a press release issued Friday, April 5th by Freestone County Sheriff Jeremy Shipley.
“As of Friday, April 5th, 2019, the Freestone County Sheriff’s Office will no longer be housing incarcerated persons at our jail facility for the time being. Due to a severe shortage of manpower and trained jail staff, we have no other choice at this time but to house all of our jail population at another facility. This was a recommendation made by the State Jail Commission in recent discussions and, I, as the Sheriff, will not allow the safety, security, and welfare, of any officer or incarcerated person to be compromised due to a lack of manpower and properly trained staff. Therefore, the decision has been made that the Limestone County Sheriff’s Office will house all Freestone County incarcerated persons until further notice. The Freestone County Sheriff’s Office and the Limestone County Sheriff’s Office already have an agreement in place, and have for many years, where Limestone County houses all of our overflow inmates due to our jail facility only built to hold a maximum of 43 people; so this course of action will not be new between our agencies. However, there will be changes in many procedures regarding arrests, magistrations, transports, and court dockets, etc., that will take some time to adjust and get used to. This will also, unfortunately, have an effect on other county agencies and offices and how they operate. For that we apologize, but, again, we cannot jeopardize anyone’s safety and security due to our current staffing issues. We are very hopeful that this is a temporary or short term solution and we are able to employ the necessary jail staff and get them trained properly in order to begin housing our own county inmates again.”
Now, with the jail officially empty of prisoners, Freestone County law enforcement agencies and their governing bodies must prepare for the many changes to come.
The Freestone County Jail housed those arrested by the Freestone County Sheriff’s Department, Fairfield, Teague, and Wortham Police Departments, Texas Department of Public Safety Troopers, and Game Wardens.
Between nineteen and twenty-three inmates were typically housed at the jail, with four jailers on staff as of last Friday.
According to Sheriff Shipley, of the four jailers currently on staff, only one is completely trained. He reports that those on staff still have a job to do with daily tasks including cleaning and maintaining the facility, monthly safety checks, and processing paperwork.
Since January, the jail has lost seven of its most experienced personnel, those with 8 months to 2 years of experience.
Sheriff Shipley shares that salary is main concern and some employees work several jobs to make ends meet.
“They wouldn’t be going anywhere, if it weren’t for the money,” said Shipley.
Subsequently, the low salary also deters new applicants, many of whom do not pass background checks or lack experience.
The de-population of the jail has also caused many issues with the local municipalities and agencies who rely on its services.
“Its very time consuming for our officers,” said Shipley, explaining that the transportation process involves a 90 minute drive round trip to Groesbeck and back, plus time spent there. The change will also mean local agencies working together to cover patrol while officers perform transport.
“We’re trying to handle this as quick as we can,” Shipley assured, but it may take one to two months before Freestone County can accept prisoners at the jail.
Shipley shared that his plan is to get six to eight people hired and trained at the same time to open back up with the new staff properly trained. He explained that it takes two weeks to earn a basic jailer certificate and three to four weeks to train in the facility.
Teague’s City Council called a special meeting Monday, April 10th to address the new procedures being implemented, and the associated costs. Aldermen will discuss amending Teague’s budget and allocating $10,000 from the fund reserve account to accommodate the cost of transporting arrested persons to the Limestone County Jail in Groesbeck.
On Tuesday, April 9th, Fairfield’s City Council is also set to discuss amending the city’s budget to include a line item for prisoner transport.
Commissioners Court will meet Wednesday, April 8th at 9:30 a.m. where Shipley says he will propose a salary increase, matching salary to surrounding counties, with certificate pay to reward experience and training.
“We train them and they go elsewhere,” said Shipley, who says his goal is to establish a jailer as a career, instead of a stepping stone to another department with higher pay.