JIM WELLS COUNTY, Texas — Jim Wells County Sheriff Joseph "Guy" Baker appeared before the county judge and commissioners on Friday to explain how the county fell nearly $1 million behind on payments to another county for inmate housing and transportation.
County Judge Pedro "Pete" Trevino Jr. opened the commissioners' court meeting by addressing the delinquent invoices.
"Recently, it's come to my attention that the sheriff's office discovered unpaid invoices for inmate housing. These invoices totaled $962,150," Trevino said.
The bills are for housing and transporting inmates to Maverick County — more than 3 hours away — and were carried over into this fiscal year's budget.
Trevino made clear the county intends to address the lapse in oversight.
"We need to make sure whatever the dysfunction was cannot happen again. We have to have 100 percent assurance that this won't happen again," Trevino said.
Sheriff Baker told commissioners the problem stemmed from a breakdown in the county's internal financial processes.
"What occurred was an internal administrative routing issue where certain invoices — received by the sheriff's office — were not forwarded by the county's accounts payable system as they should have been," Baker said.
Baker and Trevino both acknowledged that the unpaid bills are a symptom of a larger, long-standing problem: the county's more than 100-year-old jail.
"What really is driving this whole issue is the lack of jail space. The fact that we can only house half of our inmates," Baker said.
This is not the first time the jail's limitations have created problems for the county. I reported on the jail reaching capacity in February 2024 under the previous administration. Baker says nothing has changed and the issue will continue — but he and the county are now working with an architect to explore options for the future of the facility.
Despite the urgency of the debt, Trevino indicated the county will meet its obligation.
"Regardless of — we have to pay it and we're going to make the exceptions that we need," Trevino said.
Jim Wells County commissioners did not take action on paying the delinquent bill Friday. They first want to meet with Maverick County officials.
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