The Hays County Sheriff’s Office plans to end its practice of outsourcing Hays County inmates to other jails across the state.

Currently, Hays County Jail only sends inmates to Haskell County Jail. According to a public information request, the outsourcing cost reached $8,488,581.54 in the 2024 fiscal year. According to Sheriff Lt. Clint Pulpan, that figure does not include the cost of transporting inmates to and from Hays County.

“To reduce money [spent] on outsourcing, we’re trying to keep as many inmates in the jail as we can. In October of this year, we returned all outsourced inmates, other than those with Haskell County,” Pulpan said.

Pulpan said the outsourcing agreement with Haskell County requires a minimum of 200 inmates to be sent to Haskell County at all times. According to the Hays County Jail Dashboard, there were 495 people in the Hays County Jail as of Jan. 7. That means that Haskell County currently houses at least 40% of Hays County detainees.

According to Pulpan, one of the reasons the sheriff’s office will be able to bring all detainees back to Hays County is because there has been a decrease in the total number of people kept in the jail.

“The sheriff is [in charge of] the jail, and the jail simply houses the inmates. That’s it. Who comes into the jail, who leaves the jail? The sheriff has no control over,” Pulpan said. “It’s bonds, it’s getting cases moved through the system. That’s all the courts and the DA office.”

The Hays County Sheriff’s Office is the largest arresting body in Hays County. According to the Hays County Jail Dashboard, 42.1% of jailed individuals were arrested by the sheriff’s office as of Jan. 13.

Pulpan did not provide a figure for the cost of transporting inmates to and from Haskell County, which is located over 300 miles from San Marcos.

According to Mano Amiga Executive Director Eric Martinez, the costs of transportation quickly add up, especially when court dockets change and a case gets delayed after the inmate has already been transported back to Hays County.

“That gets incredibly expensive to taxpayers, right? When you think about transportation administration legal delays are a huge thing,” Martinez said.

Martinez also said outsourcing inmates can lead to difficulties in cases, such as properly utilizing legal representation when an individual is jailed in a facility five hours away from their attorney.

“When people are outsourced to distant facilities, they are cut off from their families and their legal representation,” Martinez said. “Imagine trying to fight for your freedom when your attorney has to drive hours to meet you.”

Myles Martin spent 30 months in the custody of the Hays County Sheriff’s Office before being acquitted in 2022. Martin estimates he only spent eight months in the Hays County Jail, with the other 22 months in four different jails.

“[I was transferred to] Burnet County, Fort Bend County, Travis County, Atascosa County,” Martin said. “I went to Fort Bend twice.”

Martin said he was never given notice he was going to be transferred to another jail.

“[Guards] came in with pepper spray guns, with the pepper spray pellets, and three guys said ‘Martin pack your stuff. You’re on chain,'” Martin said. “You got about three minutes to pack your stuff up, and if you refuse, you get shot with pellets.”

Martin said he was unable to have visitation when transferred to other jails because of the distance.

“Imagine being in jail in San Marcos, and now I have a consistent visitation, then now you’re in Houston, nobody’s there to visit you. It messes with your mind,” Martin said.

Martin said being transferred to other jails felt like “warfare on the psyche.” He said he faced racism, religious discrimination and other issues at the jails he was transferred to.

Martin condemned the practice, saying he believes outsourcing contracts lead to more arrests due to having to meet a minimum transferred population.

“If they got to send 200 people a day, then obviously they have to arrest that many people. That’s why they sent so many people to jail, so the [Sheriff’s Office] can make money,” Martin said.