Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share Henderson County jail at highest capacity in memory
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
Henderson County jail at highest capacity in memory
(Courtesy photo: County Sheriff Botie Hillhouse.)
Note: This interview was recorded in the County Justice Center on Wednesday, Sept. 2.
===
The Henderson County jail has been very busy.
In this week’s podcast, Sheriff Botie Hillhouse talks about the impact of bringing in 171 inmates from Orange County.
The Breakdown (Quotes from Sheriff Hillhouse)
-- The current jail stats. (1:10)
These stats are for two weeks, because the sheriff could not record a podcast last week due to the storm.
The average inmate population is 355 and there are current 468 in the jail.
“One hundred and seventy one of those are out of county inmates (from) Rockwall, Van Zandt, or Orange County.”
-- Out of county inmates are way up. (1:55)
The Orange County inmates being here because of Hurricane Laura has pushed the jail population way up. Henderson County is charging that county about $42,000 a week for providing this service. Because of the storm damage to the Orange County jail, those inmates could be here another week or two. Hillhouse said getting all those inmates at one time was difficult, but that things have settled down.
“We have reached the highest I’ve ever seen our jail capacity.”
“It was rough for about two days. Everything right now is running pretty much like normal, there’s just more bodies back there.”
-- Jail using Zoom meetings. (8:40)
The jail is still operating under COVID restrictions and conducting a lot of business via Zoom. In November, the jail will be installing a system for inmates to be able to have video visitation.
“We are still doing court via Zoom, a lot of the attorneys are meeting via Zoom.”
“They will be able to do video visits in the cells for a fee. I think that’s really going to help, because they haven’t really seen their loved ones since March.”
-- Drug dealers caught. (10:12)
Even though business has been a little slow on the criminal front for the Sheriff’s Office the past couple of weeks, the illegal drug traffic never goes away. Two big dealers have been arrested recently in Athens. Methamphetamine continues to be the main drug in Henderson County.
“That’s really going to drop the amount of drugs coming into the City of Athens.”
-- Tom Underhill Memorial Golf Tournament. (13:44)
The annual Tom Underhill Memorial Golf Tournament is scheduled for next Friday, Sept. 11, at the Pinnacle Club. This event by the Peace Officers Association raises money for local scholarships.
“This is to help us fund those scholarships.”
===
Our Sponsors
This site is free thanks to Athens Screen Printing, HP Overhead Door Company, Speedy Tech Repair, Tinsley Law & Title, and Gibson Pharmacy. Please say thank you by visiting their Facebook page.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hannigansnotebook.substack.com
View all episodes
By Michael V. Hannigan(Courtesy photo: County Sheriff Botie Hillhouse.)
Note: This interview was recorded in the County Justice Center on Wednesday, Sept. 2.
===
The Henderson County jail has been very busy.
In this week’s podcast, Sheriff Botie Hillhouse talks about the impact of bringing in 171 inmates from Orange County.
The Breakdown (Quotes from Sheriff Hillhouse)
-- The current jail stats. (1:10)
These stats are for two weeks, because the sheriff could not record a podcast last week due to the storm.
The average inmate population is 355 and there are current 468 in the jail.
“One hundred and seventy one of those are out of county inmates (from) Rockwall, Van Zandt, or Orange County.”
-- Out of county inmates are way up. (1:55)
The Orange County inmates being here because of Hurricane Laura has pushed the jail population way up. Henderson County is charging that county about $42,000 a week for providing this service. Because of the storm damage to the Orange County jail, those inmates could be here another week or two. Hillhouse said getting all those inmates at one time was difficult, but that things have settled down.
“We have reached the highest I’ve ever seen our jail capacity.”
“It was rough for about two days. Everything right now is running pretty much like normal, there’s just more bodies back there.”
-- Jail using Zoom meetings. (8:40)
The jail is still operating under COVID restrictions and conducting a lot of business via Zoom. In November, the jail will be installing a system for inmates to be able to have video visitation.
“We are still doing court via Zoom, a lot of the attorneys are meeting via Zoom.”
“They will be able to do video visits in the cells for a fee. I think that’s really going to help, because they haven’t really seen their loved ones since March.”
-- Drug dealers caught. (10:12)
Even though business has been a little slow on the criminal front for the Sheriff’s Office the past couple of weeks, the illegal drug traffic never goes away. Two big dealers have been arrested recently in Athens. Methamphetamine continues to be the main drug in Henderson County.
“That’s really going to drop the amount of drugs coming into the City of Athens.”
-- Tom Underhill Memorial Golf Tournament. (13:44)
The annual Tom Underhill Memorial Golf Tournament is scheduled for next Friday, Sept. 11, at the Pinnacle Club. This event by the Peace Officers Association raises money for local scholarships.
“This is to help us fund those scholarships.”
===
Our Sponsors
This site is free thanks to Athens Screen Printing, HP Overhead Door Company, Speedy Tech Repair, Tinsley Law & Title, and Gibson Pharmacy. Please say thank you by visiting their Facebook page.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hannigansnotebook.substack.com