By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT and BECKY KISER
Hays Post

While the Ellis County courthouse and law enforcement center are being remodeled, a process that is slated to take 325 days–nearly a year–inmates in the Ellis County Jail will be housed in temporary jail pods.

Sheriff Harbin said the county is currently in discussions to rent several mobile modular jails with the company Jails on Demand.

“The pods will basically be a jail cell,” Harbin explained.

“They’ll have bunks, toilet facilities, a shower. They’re kind of like a mobile home, without all the luxuries of a mobile home.”

The steel structures, which are configured in compliance with American Correctional Association standards, will be placed on the former NEW call center property on south Commerce Parkway.

Courthouse offices will be temporarily housed in the vacant NEW building.

Harbin said Ellis County is waiting on cost estimates from the company, which he expects to have within the next couple days.

The jail pods are moved by semi-trucks and will be hooked together in a configuration designated by the county.

“A security fence will be installed around the jail pods,” Harbin stressed.

Some inmates will be housed out of county. Harbin has told county commissioners in recent meetings he expects there will be some inmates no other county will accept. Those inmates will be housed in the temporary pods in Hays.

“This is bare-bones housing. They’re not fancy, but they’re functional,” added Harbin.