Texas County to Build New Jail

CORYELL COUNTY, Texas — Commissioners in Coryell County, Texas approved the construction of a new jail to help alleviate overcrowding. The current 92-bed capacity jail is approximately 50 beds short of the number needed to house the inmate population by 2027.
 
San Antonio architectural firm DRG presented plans for a 64,000-square-foot building that would increase the capacity to 240 beds. The new facility will be built on 33 acres of county-owned land in Gatesville.
 
Commissioners have not yet received a response about the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development grant, which the county applied for last fall. The grant could cover up to 15 percent of the cost of a new facility and help ease the roughly $700,000 annual cost to house inmates in other counties at around $50 per inmate per day.