Freestone County Sheriff Jeremy Shipley advised the Commissioners Court the jail cannot hold all the prisoners being booked at its Wednesday, April 16, meeting.
“Our jail is continuously staying full and unfortunately it maxes,” Shipley said. “We were over 80 inmates several times in the last month. Our jail only holds about 43. It’s becoming more and more difficult to house out of county because everybody is full.”
Shipley’s comments came during the court’s review of department heads’ reports. The sheriff told the court that he routinely places inmates in jails in other counties, such as Falls, Houston and Limestone, to manage the occupancy problem.
“I worked 22 hours over the past weekend and only opened up four beds,” Shipley said.
Shipley said local law enforcement agencies are complaining about the jail being unable to accept new prisoners because it is full.
“A lot of agencies don’t understand we have to operate by state legalities,” he said. “We can’t keep people on the floor. If I can’t find a place for people to go, I can’t take people. They’ll shut our whole jail down.”
Shipley said the jail needs to be able to accommodate more prisoners. “We need to be looking at more beds,” he said. “We need more beds in the county.”
No one on the Commissioners Court commented on Shipley’s statements. Efforts by the Freestone County Recorder- Chronicle to contact the sheriff for more information about how the county could expand the jail were not successful.
