Inmate count continues to climb at detention center

RAYMONDVILLE - The $111 million Willacy County Detention Center's inmate count has soared as construction crews completed its 1,000-bed expansion last month.

Records show the inmate count climbed to more than 1,950 undocumented immigrants and that on March 23, the detention center's population reach a monthly high of 1,954.

"It's been staying up pretty high," County Commissioner Eddie Chapa said Friday.

The detention center's expansion has led U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to transfer more undocumented immigrants here, said Commissioner Emilio Vera, the acting county judge who heads a board that oversees the detention center.

"When you expand it, you're going to take care of more people," Vera said.

Vera said he expects the numbers to continue to climb.

The detention center's inmate count is based on arrests of undocumented immigrants, ICE's San Antonio spokeswoman Nina Pruneda said.

"The population for any of our facilities is always going to fluctuate," she said. "It all depends on the number of apprehensions and the numbers being transferred to the facilities."

For the county, it means more money in the coffers, Vera said.

The county is paid $2.25 a day for every inmate under the terms of a federal contract, he said.

Last year, the contract paid the county about $1 million, officials said.

The detention center's expansion will generate more money, Chapa said.

"Any time the numbers are high, it's good for the county because it brings more income," Chapa said.

The inmate count bounced back after numbers plunged late last year.

Construction curbed the transfer of undocumented immigrants to the detention center, Vera said at the time.

After construction began in August, the inmate count dropped by as many as 500 detainees from a yearly average of about 1,500, records show.

Numbers rose in January to an average of 1,221 before it reached an average of 1,665 in February. In March, the head count soared to 1,769, records show.

Commissioner Aurelio Guerra said he hopes rising numbers justify the detention center's 1,000-bed expansion.

"That's how much it should have been hitting the first time around," Guerra said of March's inmate count.

The original 2,000-bed detention center fell short of developers' projections of an average head count of 1,800, Guerra said.

"Now we have 1,000 more beds," Guerra said.

In mid 2006, county commissioners approved a $60 million project to develop a 2,000-bed detention center constructed of futuristic tent-like domes. Commissioners a year later approved a $50 million project to construct a building to expand the detention center by 1,000 beds.