San Antonio Express-News: Exclusive tour: Take a look inside the Bexar County jail

Bexar County jail administrators recently received some good news — a rarity for them. In early January, they learned the near West Side complex was deemed to be back in compliance with state jail standards after falling out in October and November last year.

Yet, they’re still struggling with a shortage of jailers, frequent overcrowding and an alarming number of suicides and health crises resulting in death. The 36-year-old facility is in desperate need of repairs and upgrades.

Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar, who oversees both the jail and law enforcement in the county’s unincorporated areas, said his office is working to fix the jail’s many problems.

Salazar and other jail officials recently gave the San Antonio Express-News a tour of the facility — an inside look at how jail officials take in about 135 arrested people per day, some of whom are physically sick or suffering from mental illness.

The Bexar County Adult Detention Center Annex’s A and B towers opened in 1995, and its C and D towers were added in 2001.

The jail’s maximum capacity is 5,075 inmates, and it often exceeds that number — but not on Feb. 27, the day of the tour. That day, the jail held 4,842 inmates. Nearly 70 had been released with GPS monitors, and 180 inmates had been sent to facilities in Kerr and Burnett counties, which have agreements with Bexar County to accept inmates when the jail here is close to exceeding its capacity or already has. 

Operating the jail is a massive undertaking that requires a 1,000-person staff. But a tenth of those positions, or about 100, are empty. That’s a significant shortfall but a far cry from the 260 vacancies the jail reported the year before.

Most of the jail’s $79.3 million budget pays for staffers’ wages and benefits. 

There are hundreds of inmates with mental health needs. On the day of the tour, nearly 500 inmates are classified as having mental illnesses. Of those, 118 had been found to be incompetent to stand trial and were waiting for transfers to a state mental hospital. Some waits can extend to more than a year.