Potter County commissioners approved agreements Monday to house inmates in Hemphill and Wichita counties as the county continues to struggle with overcrowding at its detention center.
The two-year agreements will give Potter County access to about 30 additional beds. Wichita County will charge $80 per inmate per day and had about 20 beds available Monday, while Hemphill County will charge $55 per inmate per day and had space for about 10.
If all 30 beds were used for the full two years, the agreements could cost Potter County more than $784,000.
Commissioners held off on a third, considerably more expensive agreement with Haskell County that would provide 50 beds. That proposal could cost about $900,000 for six months, before additional Potter County staffing and transportation expenses are included.
Sheriff Brian Thomas told commissioners his office is running out of nearby places to send inmates.
"We're at a point where the jails are getting full, and the ones up here in the Panhandle are all full," Thomas said.
The shortage has forced the county to look farther from Amarillo. Thomas said some available jails are seven or eight hours away, creating additional overtime and transportation costs and, in some cases, requiring employees to stay overnight.
Potter County recently transported seven inmates to Childress, only to learn there were plumbing problems at the jail there. The county had to bring inmates it was already housing in Childress back with them.
Thomas said Potter County has spent about $1.3 million on inmate housing during the period presented to commissioners, plus another $144,000 in overtime and transportation costs.
The immediate problem is the number of inmates the county is responsible for.
Chief Deputy Scott Giles said Potter County had 605 people in custody as of Aug. 10, including inmates already being housed in other counties.
The Potter County Detention Center has 599 beds, but classification requirements that determine which inmates can be housed together reduce its practical capacity to about 585.
The county's current limit is even lower.
After failing a Texas Commission on Jail Standards inspection in May 2025 because of overcrowding, the detention center was limited to 80% capacity, or 479 inmates.
Commissioner Blair Schaffer said Potter County would need to find beds for 119 inmates to get within that limit.
"We've got to find a way to get into compliance. I like following the law, I like following the rules," Schaffer said.
Thomas said he expects jail standards officials to return for another inspection next month. Another failed inspection because of overcrowding could result in the state reducing the jail's allowable population to between 60% and 70% of capacity.
"We have to do something. We can't just let this go by again today," County Judge Nancy Tanner said.
Thomas said increased law enforcement operations that began July 13 have contributed to the recent increase in inmates, but county officials don't expect the broader overcrowding problem to disappear.
Giles said jail populations are returning to levels Potter County saw before the COVID-19 pandemic.
"2018-2019, our jail population was getting very high, and then we had COVID," Giles said. "And that lasted for two to three years, and what we saw were artificially low jail numbers."
Changes in state law could also keep some defendants in the county jail longer.
SJR 5 requires bail to be denied, subject to a hearing, for defendants accused of certain offenses, including murder, indecency with a child and aggravated assault.
During a July 27 commissioners court meeting, 47th District Attorney Jason Herring said Potter County had about 200 inmates who fall under SJR 5 requirements. Those defendants could remain in custody for six to 18 months or longer while their cases are resolved.
Giles said Monday that about 73 to 77 inmates currently in the Potter County jail are being held under the new requirements. Some would have been able to bond out under previous rules.
"We're trying to prepare for the worst, which may or may not occur," Giles said. "What we can say is, with the best objective evidence that we have, what we're going to need in the near future is what we needed in the recent past. And we need more beds."
The Haskell County proposal would provide the most beds, but it also raised the biggest concerns Monday.
Haskell County is about 234 miles from Amarillo. Under the proposed six-month agreement, it would accept up to 50 Potter County inmates, including inmates ready to enter the Texas Department of Criminal Justice system.
Thomas said Potter County had 34 inmates ready to go to TDC Monday morning. Haskell County would transport those inmates into the state prison system after housing them.
Potter County would still be responsible for retrieving other inmates from Haskell when they need to appear in court.
Precinct 3 Commissioner John Coffee questioned whether the county could afford to enter the agreement without first putting the expense into its budget.
Thomas said Haskell was the only county he had found willing to offer Potter County 50 beds.
"You can kick it down the road and I'll go back and dig some more and see what I can find, sir," Thomas told Coffee. "All I'm doing is bringing you the problem that we're having — we cannot keep all these people in our jail."
Coffee said he wasn't trying to put off the problem but was concerned the county would enter a six-month contract it could not afford to continue.
A full year of the Haskell agreement would cost about $1.8 million, County Auditor Brandon Boston said.
"If this truly is a temporary issue, if six months was the only time, then yes, you could find a way to not raise the tax rate and take this out of fund balance," Boston said. "Long term, though, without a tax rate increase to support it, you would not be able to afford this."
Boston said covering $1.8 million through property taxes would require an effective tax rate increase of about 6.3%. Commissioners had been preparing to discuss a budget Wednesday based on an increase of about 3.1%.
Texas taxing entities can generally increase effective tax rates by up to 3.5% annually without voter approval and can bank unused tax-raising capacity from previous years. Boston said Potter County would likely use the remainder of its unused capacity if commissioners raised the rate enough to pay for the Haskell agreement.
For the proposed six-month contract, Boston said commissioners could use fund balance. Because the county is near the end of its fiscal year, about $251,000 could be covered through a budget amendment, with roughly another $635,000 coming from fund balance in the next budget.
That would leave the county with the same question six months later if the jail population remains high.
"I'm encouraging the court that if you're seriously going to consider this, you need to make sure you include some allocation for it and make a long-term projection on whether you're going to need this for a full year," Boston said.
The county is also considering a much more expensive solution to its jail problems.
Potter County is negotiating with Burns Architecture, LLC, for consulting and planning work related to the detention center. In December, a representative of the firm estimated a new 768-bed detention center would cost about $230 million.
Financing a facility at that price through a 30-year bond would cost the county roughly $13 million a year, according to estimates discussed Monday.
Thomas said adding onto the existing detention center does not make sense because of its age. The facility is about 30 years old, and replacement parts for some of its systems are becoming difficult to find. He said the county recently had to locate a part for the jail's air-conditioning system in New Hampshire.
Commissioners did not resolve the larger jail question Monday.
Coffee made a motion to approve the Hemphill and Wichita county agreements, which commissioners approved unanimously.
