Trick or Treat: Maverick County Sheriff’s Department takes over management of Maverick County Detention Center

By: Jose G. Landa
Copyright 2013 Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc.

At the stroke of one minute past midnight on Friday, November 1, 2013, Maverick County Sheriff Tom Schmerber received the keys of the 625 bed Maverick County Detention Center from The Geo Group, Inc. representatives as Maverick County Judge David R. Saucedo, U.S. Marshal’s Service representatives, members of the Maverick County Sheriff’s Department, and the staff of the detention center witnessed and celebrated the historic changing of the guard.

Sheriff Tom Schmerber appointed Guillermo De Los Santos as the new Warden of the 625 bed prison facility owned by the Maverick County Public Facility Corporation. Sheriff Schmerber stated the prisoner count at the Maverick County Detention Center was approximately 200 at the time of changing of the guard. A majority of the prisoners, if not all, are from the U.S. Department of Justice Marshal’s Service for the Western District of Texas who are pre-trial detainees awaiting trial or sentencing before the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Del Rio Division, in Del Rio, Texas.

Prior to the Maverick County Sheriff’s Department take over of management of the Maverick County Detention Center, the U.S. Marshal’s Service stopped housing its Operation Streamline undocumented alien defendants in the Maverick County Detention Center and now houses them at the Val Verde County Detention Center operated by The Geo Group, Inc. in Del Rio, depriving Maverick County the critical revenues of approximately 100 to 300 inmates per week. Nonetheless, U.S. Deputy Marshal Mario Pelayo assured Sheriff Schmerber that the U.S. Marshal’s Service will continue to use the Maverick County Detention Center for detaining pre-trial defendants awaiting trial or sentencing in federal court in Del Rio.

Bondholders of the $42 million used to build the Maverick County Detention Center are on pins and needles hoping Maverick County’s decision to self-manage the Maverick County Detention Center is successful so that their investors do not lose their money or investment. The Bondholders are cooperating with Maverick County officials that their experiment is a success. Otherwise, the Bondholders will have to pursue other legal remedies available to them, including, but not limited to, foreclosing on the Maverick County Detention Center property and improvements thereon.

Maverick County Financial Advisor Roberto Rodriguez of Southwestern Capital Markets, Inc. stated Maverick County taxpayers are not liable for the $42 million debt in bonds, but rather the Bondholders stem to lose if the prison facility closes due to lack of financial resources to operate it or the lack of prisoners. Rodriguez stated it will cost Maverick County approximately $700,000 to operate the Maverick County Detention Center for three months until February of 2014. Sheriff Schmerber stated Maverick County will hire approximately 148 employees to operate the prison facility.

Maverick County taxpayers are concerned that Maverick County Commissioners Court’s decision to self-manage the Maverick County Detention Center does not become a financial burden to an already financially distressed county budget. County Judge David R. Saucedo and Sheriff Tom Schmerber are confident Maverick County can successfully manage the prison facility without it becoming a financial burden to Maverick County taxpayers.