Waco
– Sheriff Parnell McNamara told The Legendary he has been unable to
learn why he can't use the lockup at the McLennan County Courthouse
to house overflow prisoners.
According
to the County Auditor in Commissioners Court sessions at budget time,
cost overruns to the “outside care” budget at $45.50 per prisoner
per day paid to the for-profit New Jersey corporation CEC, Inc., to
house inmates at the Jack Harwell Detention Center ran to 300% over
plans for fiscal year 2012.
Officials
of the State Commission on Jail Standards said the lockup at the
Courthouse Annex has an operating permit, that County officials
voluntarily withdrew prisoners to make costly renovations
simultaneous to remodeling a Visiting Judge Courtroom on the first
floor of the building that seats about 500 people for jury selection
and large docket calls.
One
may hear an edited audio discussion of a discussion that took place five months ago of the estimated
costs of renovation of the jail by clicking here:
An
elevator brings defendants in custody straight to that courtroom from
the floors above without requiring a trip across the catwalk that
connects the third floor of the Courthouse with the holding cells.
Jurors and spectators may enter directly from a door on the alley
between the two buildings where a magnetometer is located for
security purposes. Presently, jurors, witnesses, defendants, lawyers
and judges must enter the building at the eastern door of the
Courthouse, ascend to the third floor, goes across the catwalk, then
descend to the first floor of the Courthouse Annex building by
another elevator.
State
Criminal 19th District Judge Ralph T. Strother ordered a
change of venue in the capital murder trial of Albert Love, partly
over security concerns. He is the second of five defendants allegedly
associated with the Chicago-based street gang called the Bloods who
were originally charged in a gangland assault rifle slaying of two
men and the wounding of two others at a subsidized housing project
named Lakeside Villas in March of 2011.
Prosecutors
have dropped indictments of two of the defendants due to a lack of
key evidence. Rickey Cummings received the death penalty following a
tense courtroom drama last fall in which members of the victims'
families stared down relatives of the assailants in the crowded third
floor rotunda of the courthouse.
Visibly
shaken jurors were forced to walk a fine line from the courtroom to
the jury room during breaks. Deputies admonished news photographers
to be extra careful about catching images of the jurors in their
lenses, on pain of the threatened ejection of every member of the
media who uses a camera.
Deputies
walked escorted jurors to a school bus in the parking lot, which
whisked them away to a remote location where they parked their cars,
and the Judge received armed protection as he walked to his vehicle
at the close of each day's hearing. Prosecutors and defense
counselors will pick a jury for the upcoming trial at the Williamson
County Courthouse at Georgetown in the coming months.
The
item of using the lockup is on today's County Commissioners Court
agenda under the heading of a work session.
It
has been placed on the weekly agenda for nearly three years, a
constant point of inquiry for members of the Commissioners Court, who
ask nearly every week about progress on the renovation project, but
receive little or no information from contractors and building
supervisors who work for McLennan County.
As
late as two months ago, County Judge Scott Felton told the Court he
thought the only thing left to do was to fix the drains on some
showers and finish a touch-up painting project.
One
may listen to an audited audio report of a discussion of that matter
by clicking here.
In
a subsequent meeting last Tuesday, he told the Court that there was
no information available about the matter, and the moment passed.
Former
Sheriff Larry Lynch denied The Legendary access to the jail to take
pictures of the renovation job, but allowed a reporter from the “Waco
Tribune-Herald” to visit, along with a photographer.
Reached
for comment, Sheriff McNamara said, “I don't know why that's taking
so long. It seems to me like it's taking an awfully long time.”
He
stressed a need for good communications with the members of the
Commissioners Court, members of which approve his department's
budget.
The
matter of outside care of prisoners and the Sheriff's Department
budget prompted a proposal of a tax increase for fiscal year 2013, a
measure slapped down and the proposed tax increase halved by the
Court. They eliminated the position of County Budget Director and the
two-man department and passed the duty to the County Auditor's
office, which is under the supervision of the State District Judges
who preside in the courts of McLennann County.
One
may hear a budget cut proposal voiced at the time by Precinct 4
Commissioner Ben Perry by clicking here:
No comments:
Post a Comment