Currently, the Dallas County Jail population is 6,388. That's about 500 more people than this time last year, and county officials were scrambling to find another place to house inmates just before the summer surge.
That expensive move was avoided, but the county may not be so lucky this year. As the thermometer rises, so does the number of inmates, and if things continue at this rate, prisons could reach capacity by the end of the summer.
All of this would be problematic enough if it could not be largely prevented. What's worse is that some people shouldn't be in prison.
Large counties in Texas are grappling with all sorts of unavoidable factors that increase prison populations, including an increase in the number of mentally ill inmates and delays in transfers to Texas prisons. But in Dallas County, a key factor in the ongoing unrest was something to be avoided. That was a failure when the county transitioned to new criminal case management software in May 2023.
A recent media investigation found that some inmates are essentially lost in the software system and remain in prison much longer than they should as a result of poor integration. .
An inmate recently won a $100,000 settlement from the county for being kept in confinement for nearly two months after his release date.
County officials have said for months that the software issue would be resolved soon. But many judges, lawyers and prosecutors who have dealt with the chaos say they would believe it when they saw it.
Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price expressed his frustration with the ongoing software chaos at an April 16 Commissioners Court meeting.
“Dagmit, who's in charge?” Price asked, concerned that the county risks losing state funding if it doesn't meet case clearance standards by the Aug. 1 deadline. “Who's driving this? We're in danger here.”
Commissioner Andrew Sommerman, chairman of the county's Continuous Improvement Steering Committee, said the software maker has been under pressure to provide much-needed final touches over the past week. He said the county is currently on track to achieve its goals.
“I’m going to turn the corner soon and take a peek on the other side,” he said.
Price also said he was confident the glitch would be fixed soon. Still, I have some hesitation. “If this doesn't work by July 1st, I'll lose my mind,” Summerman said.
That's not the only thing lost. Too many inmates will continue to lose their freedom, potentially costing Dallas County taxpayers millions of dollars in fighting inmate lawsuits and finding beds outside the prison. It's time for the county to fix this mess.
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