Inmates shipped to Louisiana due to staffing, Polk County Sheriff says

POLK COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) -- The Polk County sheriff says, like many other jails across southeast Texas, their facility is dealing with staffing shortages, causing them to move inmates to Louisiana.

"You look at Harris County. You look at pretty much every one of the counties that touch me are housing inmates either at that facility or other facilities," Polk County Sheriff Byron Lyons said.

The Texas Commission on Jail Standards requires "one jailer on each floor where 10 or more inmates are housed, with no less than one jailer per 48 inmates."

In order to meet that criteria, Sheriff Lyons said they had to make a change.

"I am now transporting and housing inmates over in Louisiana," Lyons said.

He says they started to send prisoners to the Beauregard Parish Jail at the beginning of May. The move was made in advance of their expected compliance review.

By May 6, he says they received a letter showing there were "no deficiencies noted."

He told ABC13 he understands there are concerns from the community, but they vetted the facility.

"It's actually for their safety, and making sure we stay within jail standards, and those standards are set so that we maintain a safe and careful environment for our inmates," Lyons said.

He adds that the only viable in-state option was Eagle Pass - but that was six hours away one way.

Now, they are able to pick them up within two hours, but Sheriff Lyons says this problem will require counties coming together.

"How do we best confront this issue? Because it's only going to get worse. We just want to make sure that we're doing the best thing for our inmates," Lyons said.

It's not clear how much it's costing Polk County to send the inmates to Louisiana, but in last year's budget for Harris County, leaders set aside over $50 million to send inmates to different facilities.

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