RAYMONDVILLE — Willacy County commissioners have six days to present federal officials with their request to take over operations of a 582-bed county-owned prison — or stand to lose about 200 of the area’s highest paying jobs.
During a Thursday meeting, commissioners facing a March 31 deadline held back on presenting the U.S. Marshals Service with their request to take over operations of the Willacy County Regional Detention Facility.
“We just need a little more information,” Commissioner Henry De La Paz said Friday. “We want to make sure we have all the information on hand.”
On Tuesday, commissioners plan to reconsider submitting their request, he said.
“We have some big decisions to make,” De La Paz said.
Based on the county’s request, the Marshals Service has indicated it would allow the county to take over the prison’s operations, County Judge Aurelio Guerra said.
Meanwhile, federal officials are ready to respond to the county’s request, he said.
“They said they would try to expedite it,” Guerra said.
But big questions still loom.
“What would be the financial impact of taking over the prison?” De La Paz said, as he pointed to questions.
As part of its plan, the county faces placing about 120 prison employees on its payroll while operational costs are projected to climb to about $15 million.
Since last year, Management and Training Corporation, the national private operator which has run the prison since it opened in 2003, has been helping commissioners plan to take over the prison’s operations.
Now, they’re trying to determine whether federal officials would consider allowing MTC to take part in operating the prison, De La Paz said.
For weeks, commissioners have been working with the company to finalize the county’s request to the Marshals Service.
As part of their request, commissioners are detailing the county’s plans to provide services such as food and transportation, Guerra said.
The commission’s request would help the Marshals Service determine the amount of money it would pay the county to house each of its inmates, he said, expecting the prison’s annual operating costs to climb to about $15 million.
As part of the commissions’ plan, the county would put about 120 prison employees on its payroll, with Sheriff Joe Salazar overseeing staff, while contracting with MTC to provide services such as food, medical care and transportation.
Meanwhile, Ruben Cavazos, the county’s treasurer, said officials plan to place more employees on the payroll after the prison returns to “full capacity.”
Under MTC, the 582-bed prison has employed about 200 employees.
If the county takes over the prison, the Marshals Service would cut back on the number of inmates transferred to the prison until operations are running “smoothly,” Cavazos said.
After a year of smooth operations, the Marshals Service would return the prison staff to its previous levels, he said.
With its contract set to expire March 31, MTC has moved out all of the prison’s inmates, David Martinson, MTC’s spokesman, stated.
In January 2021, President Joe Biden ordered the Justice Department phase out its contracts with private prison operators, giving MTC a September deadline to cease operations of the Willacy County prison.
“To decrease incarceration levels, we must reduce profit-based incentives to incarcerate by phasing out the federal government’s reliance on privately operated criminal detention facilities,” the order states.
Then in September, federal officials granted a six-month extension, allowing MTC to continue running the prison until March 31.
Since opening in 2003, the prison’s economic impact has stretched across this rural county struggling with one of the state’s highest jobless rates.
Now, the prison pumps about $400,000 a year into county coffers, Cavazos said.
Meanwhile, in Raymondville the prison pays the city about $250,000 a year in water and sewer revenue, City Manager Eleazar Garcia said, estimating it pays wages of about $20 an hour, some of the highest in the area.
