The Wichita County Sheriff told the Commissioners Court on Sept. 19 that jail maintenance work underway includes a current roof leak, lighting repairs and a recently fixed garage door, and that although some out-of-county inmates left the jail the daily population remains high.

"There's a roof leak. There's a leak right now. There's 2 lights out of the building. The drivers for those lights have been replaced. There was a 113 work orders over the last 2 weeks completed, and we did get the garage door downstairs fixed," the Sheriff said. The Sheriff also described distribution of key sets, saying, "lock I think Ricky 's got a set, and, Ares has a set, and then our transport drivers transfer officer have sets."

The sheriff told commissioners that Collin County removed about 30 inmates recently and that the jail is "still running at 5 ninety's every day." He added that "a little over 40 went to TDCJ in the jail" in the last two weeks. When the county judge asked about the wait list for the State Hospital, the Sheriff said he did not know the number and offered to find out.

Why it matters: maintenance problems such as roof leaks and nonfunctional lighting can affect jail operations and staff safety; inmate population and transfers to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) affect bed availability and operational costs.

Supporting details: the Sheriff reported 113 work orders completed in the prior two weeks and confirmed the garage door repair. He said county staff are pulling county vans back into a storage area and discussed removing excess items from an old courtroom. The Sheriff indicated he would report back on the State Hospital wait list when he has the information.

Discussion versus action: these items were reported and discussed; there was no motion, vote, or other formal court action recorded on jail maintenance or inmate transfers during the meeting.

Next steps: the Sheriff offered to provide the State Hospital wait-list information by email.