FORT WORTH -- The city is exploring the idea of hiring Tarrant County to house Fort Worth jail inmates again, more than 10 years after the last contract ended.
Another option is for the city to turn a former privately run lockup at 4700 Blue Mound Road in north Fort Worth into a new jail. That's the recommendation of a city-hired consultant, which presented the results of its study to the City Council on Tuesday.In both cases, the city would not renew its contract with Mansfield to house inmates at the Mansfield Law Enforcement Center.The nearby Diamond Hill Neighborhood Association objects to a new jail on Blue Mound Road, saying it would cause too much traffic and draw shady characters.Police Chief Jeff Halstead and Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson said city and county administrators have agreed to meet after Thanksgiving to discuss specifics."I think city-county jails make a lot of sense," Anderson said in an interview after the meeting. "They take away a lot of duplicative effort. As is usual in these situations, it comes down to the dollars -- what it costs."He said he is not interested in using a Fort Worth contract to make a profit."All I'm interested in doing is recovering our costs to the county," Anderson said.The sheriff also said he is not interested in housing Fort Worth's drunks -- people booked for public intoxication and released three or four hours later."It's not a good use of resources," Anderson said. The most expensive aspects of a jail operation are the booking-in and release of inmates, he said.Halstead told council members, and Anderson reiterated, that other cities are increasingly changing the handling of public intoxication cases -- those not involving operation of a motor vehicle -- to a rehabilitation model. In some cities, officers drop drunks off at a center that's under contract to help get them into rehab.Anderson said the county may not be interested in housing people arrested on other minor misdemeanors."There are some things [Fort Worth] may choose not to use the [county jail] for, based on financial considerations," he said.Tarrant County housed Fort Worth's inmates as recently as 2001. The city signed a jail contract with Mansfield, which had built a jail larger than it needed in the 1990s, hoping to make money though contracts with other entities.Fort Worth's contract with Mansfield cost $5.7 million last year and will be near $6 million next year. In 2010, Mansfield stopped guarding Fort Worth's inmates in hospitals, forcing the city to hire a contract security firm. That cost $145,000 last year, rising to $200,000 next year.Besides the cost, officers are frustrated by the drive to Mansfield, Halstead said. People arrested by Fort Worth police are initially booked at a downtown jail and then driven to the Mansfield Law Enforcement Center."We have to do what is most cost-effective to our taxpayers," Halstead said. He acknowledged the city's tight budget. "There is no money to spend on all of these projects," he said.Four options studiedThe study by CNA Analysis & Solutions considered four options: the 76,767-square-foot Blue Mound facility, Tarrant County jails, construction of a city jail and continuation of the Mansfield deal.The city has owned the Blue Mound property for several years and leased it to a private firm that operated a 450-bed state jail. The lease expired last year.CNA estimated that improvements to the Blue Mound facility would cost $4.3 million.The jail would require 17 staffers to manage booking and oversee operations. The city would outsource security and services. The cost could total $179 million over 20 years, an estimated $56 million savings compared with keeping the Mansfield contract, CNA said."It's very clearly a significant cost savings for the city to go this route in comparison to Mansfield," Karl Becker, a consultant, told council members.The 20-year costs of building and operating a new jail would be $186 million before land acquisition, the CNA report said.The CNA analysis provided hypothetical numbers on what the county would charge."At this time, the county does not appear to have an interest in providing detention services to Fort Worth," the study said.Councilman Sal Espino, whose district includes Diamond Hill and the north side, seized on the lack of specific county numbers.Diamond Hill residents want more information and more assurances, Espino said"Diamond Hill is a very historic community. It's a very proud community," he said. "They have been part of the process, but they're frustrated."Hazel Pointer, vice president of the Diamond Hill association, said the short-term nature of city jail stays would mean lots of visitors, lawyers and bondsmen in addition to those who were arrested. The neighborhood is also worried that released inmates would wander around in the area.By comparison, she said, the private state jail was a good neighbor. "Most people didn't know it was there," she said.She wants more evidence that the city has looked at other options.And, she said, "I want a study done on the traffic on Blue Mound Road."Becker said national data shows that crime typically doesn't spike in areas around correctional facilities. Police presence is high and released inmates typically want to leave quickly, he said.Mayor Betsy Price sided with Espino in saying the council needs more information."I'm not sure we've gotten the city staff and county staff and the [police] chief and sheriff to really sit down," she said. "It's time to get away from the hypothetical and get some hard numbers."Scott Nishimura, 817-390-7808Twitter: @JScottNishimuraHave more to add? News tip? Tell us
