Nearly 100 Cameron County inmates going to Robstown

The Cameron County Commissioners’ Court on Friday approved a contract with LCS Correctional Services Inc. that will allow the county to transfer nearly 100 inmates to the company’s privately run detention center in Nueces County.

The inmates will be transferred to LCS’ Coastal Bend Detention Center in Robstown, said Gus Reyna Jr., chief deputy for the Cameron County Sheriff’s Department.

Although transferring the inmates to Brooks County had been mentioned earlier in the week, such a transfer was not correct, authorities said.

The inmate transfer is necessary for Cameron County to meet its commitment to the U.S. Marshals Service to provide space for 300 federal inmates in the county’s jail system, County Judge Carlos H. Cascos said.

Under a 1998 contract between Cameron County and the U.S. Marshals Service, the county agreed to provide space for 300 federal inmates at any given time in exchange for $3 million to help pay the cost of a new county detention center, Cameron County Detention Center No. 3.

The contract is for 15 years and will expire in 2015.

The Intergovernmental Cooperative Agreement was signed by Eduardo Gonzalez, the former director of the U.S. Marshals Service, along with Hiram Arthur Contreras, the former U.S. Marshal for the Southern District of Texas, Gilberto Hinojosa, a former Cameron County judge, and Sheriff Omar Lucio.

Cameron County receives $36.35 from the federal government per day for every federal inmate it houses in a county facility. If it were able to maintain that 300-inmate figure, the county would receive $9,414.65 per day or more than $3.4 million per year for housing the federal prisoners.

As of late this week, the county had 76 federal inmates housed in its county jails. However, the federal government wants to be guaranteed that 300 beds are available for federal inmates at all times.

In the past, the county has had to transfer some of its federal inmates to other counties to make room for Cameron County inmates.

Although the county will pay LCS $48 per day, per inmate, the cost is lower than what the company usually charges, Lucio said on Friday.

The company wanted to initially charge the county $60 a day per inmate, but Lucio said he was able to negotiate a lower price. In addition, LCS agreed to help with the transportation of inmates and will also provide non-major medical care, Lucio said.

"We thought that was good," the sheriff said.

Cascos said the difference of what the federal government pays Cameron County and what it will pay LCS means the county will lose about $12-$13 a day per inmate.

He added although the county will pay LCS $138,000 every month, this actually translates into about $34,000 per month once the difference of what the federal government pays the county to house federal inmates is calculated.

About 96 inmates were transferred Friday afternoon and they will remain at their new location in Robstown until construction of an addition to the Carrizalez-Rucker Detention Center is completed, which is about nine to 10 months away. The addition will provide an additional 356 beds at Carrizalez-Rucker. Once those additional beds are available, the county is not expected to transfer prisoners to Robstown.

Cameron County has 1,422 beds in its four county jails.