File photo
File photo
Last month, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice stopped transferring prisoners from county jails to state prisons to help curb the spread of COVID-19, but they are now being asked to resume intakes by Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar.
"If it's so safe to open up tattoo parlors, or hair salons, or nail salons, or movie theaters or whatever that may be — if it's safe enough to open those, then open up TDCJ and start taking your inmates off my hands," Salazar told KENS 5 News.
Over 250 inmates are waiting to be transferred and holding the inmates can cost thousands of dollars. Salazar said the inmates he is holding have cost county taxpayers about $622,000 and that number will keep rising the longer he has to hold the prisoners.
But TDCJ hasn't confirmed a day to resume transfers.
"We’re getting jammed up. Which means it’s going to be a lot of trouble down the line," County Judge Nelson Wolff said during a coronavirus briefing. "If we could just get the state to meet its responsibilities, it would be a big step forward."
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