In response to a growing jail overcrowding crisis, the Potter County Commission has created a dedicated committee to explore solutions, including potential expansion of the current facility. The decision was made during Monday's meeting, where key members were appointed to the task force.
The newly formed committee includes:
Judge Nancy Tanner
Commissioner Warren Coble, Sr.
County Attorney Scott Brumley
Chris Serna, Facilities Maintenance Director
Purchasing Agent
Captain Jeremy Frazier, Potter County Sheriff's Office
Mike Head, Project Manager
Jason Herring, District Attorney
Tim Roth, Quality Control Manager at Hensel Phillips (alternate)
Additionally, citizens were selected by Judge Tanner and the Commissioners to ensure community input:
Francis Frost (Judge Tanner's appointee)
Wendi Swope (Pct. 1)
Vinh Thanh Le (Pct. 2)
Craig Gualtiere (Pct. 3)
Gary Maxwell (Pct. 4)
Potter County’s jail currently exceeds capacity limits established by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards. As a temporary solution, the county has been transporting inmates to other facilities, a costly measure criticized by Sheriff Brian Thomas.
“We have to have a place to house these people,” Sheriff Thomas stated on November 13. “We're spending more money transporting and housing them somewhere else. Eventually you're gonna be spending more money that way than just to add on and put our building up where we need it to be.”
Thomas emphasized that constructing a new jail would be prohibitively expensive, making expansion of the current facility the only feasible path forward.
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