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POLK COUNTY \u2014 In Texas, each county jail requires a minimum ratio of one guard for every 48 inmates. According to our news partner KETK, that’s not enough for Polk County.<\/p>\nPOLK COUNTY \u2014 In Texas, each county jail requires a minimum ratio of one guard for every 48 inmates. According to our news partner KETK, that’s not enough for Polk County.<\/p>\n
Sheriff Byron Lyons says, like many other jails across Texas, his jail is facing staffing shortages and overcrowding, and has now looked into exploring alternative housing options for inmates.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only viable in-state option was in Eagle Pass, which could accommodate 60 to 100 inmates. However, it is located approximately six hours away, one way,\u201d Lyons said. \u201cIn contrast, the facility in Beauregard Parish, Louisiana, though out of state, is only a two-hour drive and can also house between 60 and 100 inmates. This proximity allows us to keep our inmate population centralized, rather than spread out across multiple locations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Byron said by housing inmates in Louisiana\u2019s jail, it will help Polk County remain in compliance with the minimum jail standards.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, the Texas Commission on Jail Standards conducted a review of the jail and found it had not complied with \u201cstaffing roster documenting the 1-48 staffing ratio.\u201d As of March, the facility had 52 jailer positions staffed with a turnover rate of 6%.<\/p>\n
According to the Texas Tribune, though new jail cells are being built, it is not meeting the demand as the state\u2019s population continues to grow and legislation changes are made regarding when an inmate can be released while awaiting trial.<\/p>\n
\u201cCounties are having to think outside the box,\u201d Ricky Armstrong, assistant director of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, said. \u201cWe know there are some counties housing people out of state. It\u2019s not something we recommend or encourage, but we see that as a necessary evil.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
POLK COUNTY \u2014 In Texas, each county jail requires a minimum ratio of one guard for every 48 inmates. According to our news partner KETK, that’s not enough for Polk County. Sheriff Byron Lyons says, like many other jails across Texas, his jail is facing staffing shortages and overcrowding, and has now looked into exploring … Continue reading Jail moving inmates to Louisiana amid overcrowding issues<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1412005,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/wp-content\/media\/2025\/05\/2025-05-16_033155-199x200.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[177],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1412003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news-archive-archives"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-09 09:38:01","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/wp-content\/media\/2025\/05\/2025-05-16_033155-199x200.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1412003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1412003"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1412003\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1412088,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1412003\/revisions\/1412088"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1412005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1412003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1412003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1412003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}