Introduction to the Dallas County Jail Crisis
The Dallas County Jail hit full capacity again on Wednesday, leading officials to begin rehabilitating previously inoperative cells to make room and exploring whether other facilities have space for transfers. The jail can hold roughly 7,200 people but has a current limit of 7,119 due to unusable cells and logistics for segregating sexes. The population hit 7,124 on Tuesday and 7,101 Wednesday, leaving officials scrambling for short-term solutions.
The Current State of the Jail
County Commissioner John Wiley Price said during a meeting Tuesday that a vendor is working to remediate mold in an area of the jail “that had been basically mothballed for the last 10 years” to free up space. “We’re in trouble,” Price said. “We’re doing everything we can.” Officials have long declared the jail to be in crisis and have discussed the need for judges to move cases faster and find alternatives to incarceration for people with mental illnesses.
Technology Issues and Their Impact
District Attorney John Creuzot said in an interview Tuesday the technology issues are some of the most urgent needs to address the jail crisis. “There are system breakdowns in Dallas County,” Creuzot said. “We have consigned ourselves by a lack of action to total dysfunction and you’re going to continue to have all these problems.”
Technology problems are among the most urgent issues the county must address to fix the jail, Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot says.
Lola Gomez / Staff Photographer
Exploring Solutions
County Judge Clay Lewis Jenkins did not respond to a phone call Wednesday or questions submitted to his staff requesting comment on the crisis. In recent years, Dallas County has been able to avoid the fate of places like Harris County, which has spent $50 million sending its incarcerated people to Louisiana and Mississippi as its jail numbers surpass staffing levels. However Shane Sowell, chief deputy of detention services for the sheriff’s office, said Tuesday he has contacted other counties and private facilities to inquire about available jail beds. He said the county may be able to transfer males to other facilities in order to make room for females in the Dallas County Jail.
The Role of the Commissioners Court
The Commissioners Court would have to approve funding for any transfers. “We’re in a critical situation right now,” Sowell said. The jail population is at record levels despite monthly book-ins being relatively in line with pre-Covid levels, according to Dallas County Criminal Justice Department data. From January to July, the average monthly bookings were 4,824 while the average population was 6,748, the county reported. During the same period in 2019 average monthly bookings were only slightly higher at 5,305 while the average population was significantly lower at 4,857.
Addressing Mental Health
County Administrator Darryl Martin is spearheading efforts to create pre- and post-arrest diversion programs to prevent people with severe mental illnesses from ending up in jail in the first place. In 2024, 57% of all people booked into the jail had received mental health services from the state system within the prior three years, according to data obtained by The Dallas Morning News.
The Dallas County jail can hold roughly 7,200 people but has a current limit of 7,119 due to unusable cells and logistics for segregating sexes.
Andy Jacobsohn / Staff Photographer
Implementation Problems with Case Management Software
But implementation problems with the county’s case management software are also contributing to the jail population crisis, Cruezot said. When the county transitioned to Odyssey for its case management software in May 2023, the jail remained on its separate Adult Information Systems platform. Because the two systems cannot communicate, the district clerk’s office has to hand deliver judgments, fingerprints, indictments and other paperwork to the jail so the sheriff’s office can send it to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice before a person can be released. The district clerk and sheriff’s office are in the same building.
Delays in Paperwork Transmissions
There are multiple federal lawsuits ongoing against Dallas County related to people who were released weeks past their time served dates after delays in paperwork transmissions, including cases that occurred this year. Of more than $17 million Dallas County spent on contracts to implement Odyssey court case management between 2020 and 2023, $2.2 million was for Odyssey software for the jail. However the sheriff’s office has not yet implemented the change.
Plans for Transitioning Software
Sheriff Marian Brown did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday submitted through spokespeople. When previously asked if she would convert the jail to Odyssey to assimilate with the courts, she did not answer, instead stating that Odyssey was supposed to be compatible with the jail’s software. County Commissioner Andrew Sommerman said in an interview he plans to discuss the issue at Monday’s Continuous Improvement Steering Committee to confirm whether the sheriff’s office has plans to transition software. “I am an advocate for moving into a better program so you don’t have people running paper over by hand but I need to know if the sheriff wants it or not, and if not, we’ve got to come up with a different solution,” Sommerman said.
Electronic System Implementation
District Clerk Felicia
