HomeMy WebLinkAboutIR 10178 INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 10178
To the Mayor and Members of the City Council August 14, 2018
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*a SUBJECT: JAIL OPERATIONS UPDATE
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On September 30, 2018, the contract for jail services with the City of Mansfield expires. Currently,
all prisoners are processed at the Fort Worth Police facility located at 350 W. Belknap. As soon
as probable cause is determined, all Class A and B misdemeanor, and all Felony prisoners are
transferred to Tarrant County Sheriff's Department. The remaining Class C prisoners are either
transported to Mansfield or released with a pending court date. Tarrant County will not handle any
initial intake processing for any prisoners, nor will they accept our Class C prisoners for housing.
After several months of negotiations with Mansfield for renewal of the current contract that
needed to be amended based on the change in Tarrant County policies that Class A and B
misdemeanors and Felony prisoners would be housed in the Tarrant County jail immediately after
probable cause was determined, the agreement for the City of Mansfield to provide intake and jail
services to Fort Worth will terminate. Staff was unable to negotiate a contract with Mansfield at a
price point that reflected the level of services being provided. Additionally, even though the
number of prisoners being housed in the Mansfield jail has dropped by approximately 80%
because the changes made by Tarrant County related to accepting prisoners, Mansfield did not
feel compelled to reduce the existing contract pricing outlined in the contract for services not
needed by the City of Fort Worth.
In anticipation of concluding the current contract, City staff released a Request For Proposals
(RFP) on August 1, 2018 to seek 3rd party vendors to provide turnkey operations that would
handle intake processing, housing for Class C prisoners, and the transportation of prisoners.
The RFP closes August 23, 2018.
Because there is a possibility that a suitable vendor will not be found to run the operations for the
City within this short time frame, negotiations continue with the City of Mansfield to retain as
many of their jail staff as possible to operate our intake processing for all arrests on a contract
basis. This solution would require that we supplement contract staff with City Marshals and
Police Department personnel. Additionally, discussions with other agencies that operate jails
with capacity to handle the new lower volume of Class C prisoners are underway.
City Staff continues to work diligently to formalize a final recommendation regarding this issue
and will bring forward additional communication and information to the City Council once a final
solution is determined. If you have any questions related to this matter, please contact Jay
Chapa, Assistant City Manager at 817-392-5804.
David Cooke
City Manager
ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS