Hays County Jail is overcrowded and understaffed, sheriff-elect says

HAYS COUNTY, Texas - An Austin mother is waiting for the man accused of her son’s murder to go through the court system. The Hays County, overcrowded and understaffed, jail is sending people awaiting trial to other counties.

"With growth comes crime," Hays County Sheriff Elect Anthony Hipolito said.

Hipolito said the county jail doesn’t have room for criminals, though.

"We have to put these inmates somewhere, right?" Hipolito said.

Hays County is shipping inmates off to other counties. Recently, Hays County inmates have been housed in Comal, Maverick, Blanco, and Haskell Counties. Hays County entered a contract about two years ago with Haskell County, which requires 200 inmates to be outsourced there through 2025.

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"When you have a jail that's under renovation, we’ve had staffing issues for quite some time, we have to have a certain inmate to staffing ratio," Hipolito said.

The county spends about $100 a day per inmate for them to stay elsewhere.

"I think we would be spending that money anyway if they were here, and we would be fully staffed. A big part of that is because of the salaries of each corrections officer, the uniforms we have to buy, the benefits that we have to spend, and the cost of housing them here as well," Hipolito said.

Hipolito said it’s a priority to get as many inmates back to the county as possible.

"Because of the amount of money we're spending, but more importantly, the efficiency of the justice system is slowed down," Hipolito said.

A murder victim’s mother is dealing with that. Julieta Serrano’s son, 19-year-old Brian Serrano was shot dead in Southeast Austin in May 2023. The suspected killer is Ervin Coronado-Palacio. 

In December, he was able to bond out of the Travis County Jail. In July, Coronado-Palacio was arrested again for child trafficking and two counts of sexual assault of a 14-year-old in Hays County, while he had an ankle monitor.

"Now with the new charges, it just creates a bigger, bigger mess," Julieta Serrano told FOX 7 in August 2024.

Coronado-Palacio is not in the Hays County Jail. He is in the Haskell County Jail. A Travis County judge warned Serrano the case was not going to go through the court system quickly.

"I do really pray that he gets brought back here soon so we can get things moving," Serrano told FOX 7 in August 2024.

Hipolito said Coronado-Palacio will most likely need to be adjudicated in Hays County before he can go back to Travis County.

"Probably 92% of our inmates right now are felonies, waiting on felony charges, but we're talking about 70% of those are still waiting to go to court, so it's not just a law enforcement thing, it's us working with the DA's office. it's us working with the judges to ensure that not only the victims are heard and have their day in court, but also these inmates have their right to a speedy trial," Hipolito said.

Court records indicate Coronado-Palacio is still being housed outside the county. He is set to be arraigned next week in Hays County. His next hearing in Travis County is set for December 18.

Jail overcrowding doesn’t seem to be an issue in Travis and Williamson Counties. As of August 2024, Travis County had space for about 200 more inmates and as of September 2024, Williamson County had room for an additional 400.

"We've improved our recruiting, we've improved our staffing there in the jail, and that has allowed us to start bringing some of those inmates back, which is a good sign," Hipolito said.

Hays County still has 200 inmates in Haskell County and about 30 inmates in Maverick County.