SAN ANTONIO – Understaffed and overworked are two claims made repeatedly about the Bexar County jail and its detention officers.
The Bexar County Sheriff's Office has said finding people willing to do the work is not easy, so the KSAT 12 Defenders wanted to get a firsthand look at what the job is really like.
We followed a detention officer who had 66 inmates under his supervision. We will not mention the officer’s name for safety reasons.
The officer’s first task while on duty was to fasten to his belt a needed tool: a duress box.
“Say an inmate wants to attack us or two inmates are fighting,” he said. “You push this button and the CERT team will be here in minutes. Seconds, really.”
One of the inmates under this officer’s supervision is on suicide watch.
“I have an FSP. That stands for Full Suicide Prevention,” he said. “I have to check them every 15 minutes. To help me do my job better, to make sure I check them, I have a timer that I set for 15 minutes.”
Four inmates at the Bexar County Jail committed suicide in July — all of them by hanging. The detention officer carries a hook-like tool that can be used in such situations.
“This will actually cut whatever they’ve used to harm themselves down,” the officer said.
Two weeks ago, the officer had to work a double shift.
"By the time I got done at the end of the day, my legs and my hips were hurting from going up and down these stairs,” he said.
He sweeps every cell, looking for contraband. During our visit, he found wire, an empty soda bottle and a pencil — all of which he said could be used as weapons.
“They get to use flex pencils. They’re literally flexible. And they wrap it in stuff to make it harder,” said the officer. “For them, it’s just a pencil. For me, I look at it as a weapon.”
He also found an empty soda bottle and fermenting fruit — a way to make alcohol.
"This is fermenting bananas,” he said, holding up an empty Fanta bottle. “And they use it as a ‘starter’ for their hooch.”
Inmates spend up to 16 hours a day in the common area of their cell pod. Some pass the time sitting at tables, talking, while others play cards.
“Second place gets an oatmeal pie and a honey bun,” one inmate announced.
"They know my rules,” said the officer. “For the most part, everybody follows them.”
It’s a nonstop job, but it’s one the detention officer said he loves.
There are 959 uniformed positions in the jail. As of Aug. 1, there were 74 vacancies.
In July, Bexar County commissioners approved more than $500,000 in overtime pay for officers at the jail.