At least 70 Dallas County Jail inmates were kept in custody past their release dates from December through the end of June.
Overdetention, or the incarceration of an individual for a period longer than ordered by the courts, has been a recurring issue in Dallas County. Four federal lawsuits have been filed against the county over cases in which inmates were held well past their appointed release dates, while commissioners have authorized more than $200,000 to settle similar cases. And legal fees are far from the only financial consequence of the issue, according to a report from the Texas Jail Data Insight Project.
From Dec. 23 to June 24, TJDIP Executive Director Holly McGowan tracked 73 cases in which inmates were held longer than their sentence at Dallas County Jail, six of which remained at Lew Sterrett Justice Center as of June 24. McGowan estimates the delays put the county on the hook for just over $100,000 in that period, based on it’s reported daily incarceration cost of $95.58 per day for each individual…