| TO: | Honorable John Whitmire, Chair, Senate Committee on Criminal Justice |
| FROM: | John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board |
| IN RE: | SB1596 by Hinojosa (Relating to the placement of video camera surveillance systems in county jails.), As Introduced |
The bill would require that by June 1, 2008, each county jail install and operate a video camera surveillance system that records video images in each jail corridor, solitary confinement cell, suicide watch cell, kitchen, and dining area or other common area. The bill would also require the Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) to submit by February 1, 2005 to the presiding officer of each house of the state legislature a report regarding changes in technology that would affect the installation of video camera surveillance systems and sources of revenue available to counties to pay for the systems.
The portion of the proposed statute that sets requirements for the TCJS would expire on February 2, 2005. The bill would take effect September 1, 2003.
TCJS estimates that agency costs for implementation would be absorbed within existing resources.
A sample of county sheriffs was contacted regarding the fiscal implications of the bill. The sheriff in Fort Bend County reports that the jail is already equipped with a video suveillance system that meets the requirements contained in the bill, therefore, there would be no fiscal impact. The system is valued at $200,000. The jail population is currently about 750.
Other sheriffs reported that the county jail has either a video monitoring system, but not one that records, or no system at all. In Dallas County, where there is a video system, but no recording devices and the cameras are not in all the locations required by the provisions of the bill, the county estimates it would cost an additional $600,000 per jail to come into compliance with the requirements of the bill. There are six county jails in Dallas, for a total start-up cost of $3.6 million. If installation were to occur in phases each year to come into compliance by June 1, 2008, if prices were to remain constant, if the initial expenditure were to occur one month after the bill's effective date, and if the county spent an equal amount per month ($3.6 million divided by 56 months), the county would expend for upgrades $192,858 in calendar year 2003; $771,432 per year in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007; and $321,430 from January 1, 2008 through June 1, 2008. Dallas County anticipates that staff would be increased by at least one detention service officer per jail for examining the tapes, for an additional cost in salaries and benefits of close to $1 million per year.
The sheriff's office in Denton County, where there will be three jail facilities operational by the year 2008 with a combined capacity of 1500 beds, estimated the costs would include purchase and installation of the equipment (cameras, monitor, recording devices, tapes) and additional staff to monitor the system during all shifts. The sheriff indicated the costs would be significant, possibly $1 million the first full calendar year and $700,000 a year thereafter.
The Collin County Sheriff, using fiscal data provided by the jail facilities maintenance staff and detention electronic equipment suppliers, estimates up-front costs of between $300,000 and $500,000 for cabling, hardware, and labor.
| Source Agencies: | 409 Commission on Jail Standards, 304 Comptroller of Public Accounts
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| LBB Staff: | JK, WK, DLBa, JB
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