Tarrant County commissioners will vote Tuesday to send more inmates from the Tarrant County Jail to a private one in Garza County.

They will also vote to exempt the county from bidding requirements to seek other facilities.

Commissioners approved an $18 million agreement in August 2022 to send 432 inmates to the Giles W. Dalby Correctional Facility in Post, 38 miles southeast of Lubbock.

The agreement, if passed at Tuesday’s meeting, will send another 68 inmates to Garza County, according to commissioners court agenda documents. County commissioners reallocated $22.5 million American Rescue Plan dollars toward the initiative during their Sept. 5 meeting.

The agreement will last until Dec. 1, 2024, if it goes through.

If it does not pass, “the County risks overcrowding the Tarrant County Jail, which endangers the safety of both employees and inmates. Overcrowding at the Tarrant County Jail also jeopardizes current jail certification,” agenda documents read.

“Should the Tarrant County Jail lose its certification, or become overcrowded to the point where new inmates cannot be accepted, the safety of Tarrant County residents will be compromised as the County will have no facility to securely house arrestees and defendants charged with offenses under the Texas Penal Code.”

At the time of the original contract’s passage, county leaders attributed the need to move inmates to planned HVAC maintenance at the Tarrant County Jail and a staffing shortage at the sheriff’s office.

Tarrant County was short 159 detention officers August 2022. As of Aug. 1, that number now hovers at 235 openings.

Maintenance on the jail’s HVAC system will begin Oct. 16, according to agenda documents.

Tarrant isn’t the only county who has sent inmates to Garza. Harris County commissioners voted to put $25 million toward moving 600 inmates there in July 2022.