SLOW COUNTY JUDICIARY ONE OF CULPRITS FOR JAIL-COST BURDEN ON LOCAL TAXPAYERS

By Juan Montoya
If ever it has been your misfortune to serve time at the correction centers in Cameron County, you would soon find out that a major part of the problem of overcrowding of inmates that is costing the county some $200,000 a month can directly be placed at the door mat of the local judiciary.

Take for example the case of Ruben, a composite prisoner from Matamoros who was caught and charged with Driving While Intoxicated on Brownsville streets. It was his first offense, but, since he could not post bond or afford an attorney, he was incarcerated at a corrections unit downtown across from the county courthouse on Harrison until his case is heard.

Jail dockets being what they are, the judges in the local courts assigned Ruben a local ad litem attorney to represent him in the case. Since he is from Matamoros, he also has a federal illegal entry charge awaiting him after he goes through the state prosecution and serves his sentence.

Now, as every prisoner will tell you, court-appointed attorneys usually take their time to represent their clients. On average, a DWI charge will take 90 days to travel through the courts if attorneys don't file for continuance for one reason or another.
After 90 days in the county eating and being guarded at the expense of the county taxpayer, the prisoner will probably heed the counsel of his court-appointed attorney and plead guilty to the charge. The court usually will assess a six-month sentence and credit him with time served.
Then, Ruben will be handed to the federal government where the feds will decide if they want to proseucte his illegal entry or simply drive him under guard to one of the international bridges and release him.
What is wrong with this picture?
Ruben did not only serve the length of his sentence awaiting his trial, he also served another 30 days at the expense of the county. Now, the judge in his case knew that Ruben could not possibly pay the fines imposed in the sentence, and that when turned over to the feds, would probably be deported. So why was Ruben's room and board and jail guards borne at the expense of the taxpayer?
Couldn't the judge in his case have urged his court-appointed lawyer to speed up the eventual plea bargain most inmates accept in the end?
Cameron County Judge Carlos Cascos hit it right on the head when he said that "overcrowding in the jails would not end until prisoners are processed more efficiently through the system. The decision on alternatives rests with the judges, he said."
Precint 3 commissioner David Garza also chimed in saying that the commissioners had acted before and created two state district courts and allocated $1 million for the defense of indigents precisely to alleviate overcrowding, without getting the desired results of these efforts.
Cameron County is still spending the $200,000 a month (at $8 per day per inmate) paying Zapata and Brooks counties to house its overflow of inmates. One plan is to hire 17 to 24 jailers and open a pod to house another 128 beds in existing county facilities.
Another is to make them wear ankle monitors and have them serve their sentence at home  at a cost to the county of $10 to $12. But, some critics of these schemes ask whether that is real punishment.
Now, everyone knows that, aside from their vacation time, local judges routinely close their courts in mid-summer and take breaks as do their staffs. This is apart from the county holidays when courts are closed. Sometimes, on Fridays, one can walk through the second and third floors of the county's judiciary wing and look through the glass slits on their doors into blackened courtrooms.
And forget about holding court between Thanksgiving and New Year's. No one will be there.
As commissioners battle over the plans to address the problem, the ball rests squarely on the county's judiciary to stop taking lengthy (and self-granted) mid-year sabbaticals and address their overcrowded dockets to pitch in and help to ease the burden on county taxpayers.