Wharton County Sheriff Shannon Srubar recently received permission from the state jail commission to temporarily add a dozen bunk beds to the Wharton County Jail to help alleviate overcrowding. That will allow the jail to house 24 more inmates than the 144 it currently houses for the next year. As of Thursday, the county was housing seven overflow inmates at the Calhoun County Jail in Port Lavaca at a cost of $55 per day per inmate.
Normally the overflow is taken to Fort Bend County or to Matagorda or Victoria counties where there are also housing agreements in place.