El Paso County officials are discussing a move to reduce the jail population that could free up a few hundred beds at a time – potentially making room for paying customers.
Discussions about jail overcrowding at recent Board of County Commissioners meetings have touched on a little-known pitfall of having too many local inmates: lost revenue from once-lucrative detention contracts between the Sheriff’s Office and agencies such as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
From 2008 to 2015, ICE paid the county more than $11 million to house detainees – a windfall that has all but dwindled amid record-setting jail populations.
The county took in about $7,000 through August of this year, compared to a one-year high of nearly $2.7 million in 2009, Sheriff’s Office records show.
“We don’t have the space to manage what we’ve got today, let alone 100 extra inmates a day that are paying their portion,” Sheriff Bill Elder said at a budget hearing Thursday, after Commissioner Peggy Littleton noted that the packed jail has left the Sheriff’s Office unable to benefit from the ICE agreement as it has in the past.
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