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| Blanco County getting new jail |
| By Roy Bragg, , Staff, Express-News |
| Published: 11/14/2011 |
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JOHNSON CITY — For decades, the Blanco County jail remained open because of elbow grease, juggling chores and plenty of quarters. With only seven beds, the cramped, 117-year-old facility didn't have room for washing machines. When inmate laundry stacked up, Lydia Bledsoe, sheriff's administrative assistant, threw dirty uniforms into her car trunk, grabbed a roll of quarters from Sheriff William Elsbury's desk and dashed to a coin-operated laundry. It had very little kitchen storage, which meant jailers made a lot of shopping trips. And on busy nights, when staff and deputies were swamped, Elsbury would roll up his sleeves to wash that night's dishes. Change was long overdue. “We've been on borrowed time for 20 years,” says County Judge Bill Guthrie. Now, thanks to disciplined budgeting and 115 years of patience, Blanco County will move inmates from one of the state's oldest jails to one of the state's newest early next month. The new jail, with 48 beds, will save the county $60,000 in annual out-of-town housing costs, Guthrie said. And in a case of role reversal, Blanco County will rent a lot of the beds to counties with their own overflowing jails. There will be other savings. Deputies won't have to make long drives — 2½ hours to Comanche County, for example — to move inmates. The new jail cost $6.5 million to build, but the tab didn't cause sticker shock for local voters. Guthrie says the county years ago dedicated money to pay off bond debts. Once those debts were paid off, the county continued stockpiling the money with the new jail in mind. As a result, the sparsely populated, largely rural county has the money to pay off the new jail without raising taxes or cutting services. The old jail was an anomaly in the world of county detention facilities. It predated the creation of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards by 81 years. As was the case with many older jails, it was allowed to operate with several variances, said Adan Munoz Jr., commission executive director. As time passed, variances stacked up. The Blanco County jail became the godfather of all grandfathered jails. The state, for example, requires that genders be separated by “sight and sound,” Elsbury said. That wasn't possible, so a wall was built and the genders were separated only by “sight.” When the current 10-person jail staff and six additional jailers are trained on the new jail's electronic wizardry, inmates will be moved over and fetched from distant jails. “It's a bittersweet moment,” Guthrie said. “That old jail did its job for a long time.” click here for more of the story. |
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