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New completion date projected for Comal County Jail

The latest timeline from Comal County expects the facility could be ready for move-in at the end of May.

COMAL COUNTY, Texas — A new move-in date has been announced for the Comal County Jail. The new facility has been under construction since 2017. The completion date has changed several times since then. The latest timeline from Comal County expects the facility could be ready for move-in at the end of May.

A few things must happen before then. Construction and the City of New Braunfels inspections are scheduled to be done by April 2nd. Then, the Texas Commission on Jail Standards will conduct their inspections over the course of a few weeks. The official green light for county employees and inmates to begin using the facility is expected to happen on May 28th.

The new jail will have 585 beds. Sheriff Mark Reynolds says in 1931, Comal County had a 23 to 25 bed facility. In 1985, the current Comal County jail opened with the ability to hold 144 inmates. In 2000, the facility expanded to 337 beds. Twenty years later, the jail is full.

Comal has been paying out-of-county facilities to house dozens of extra inmates. Records show on February 3, 2020, the Comal County Jail population was at 276 inmates. A total of 64 were housed elsewhere. Burnet County took 33 inmates and Atascosa County took 31. The two counties charged Comal $3,136 for Monday housing fees. The new facility being built along I-35 will eliminate that daily expense.

In an interview at the construction site last month, Sheriff Mark Reynolds explained the need for the new jail.

“Comal county [is the] second largest growing county in the United States,” said Reynolds on January 10th. “We're just trying to keep up. I'm not going to say crime is rampant. But as we grow and the population grows, we bring problems in. This [jail] is being built for the future.”

RELATED: New jail taking shape after delays push completion to spring

Years down the road when the county will need more room, the process should be easier. The jail is being built with enough laundry facilities, kitchen space and other infrastructure specifications to handle a future expansion to 900 inmates. The extension would only require adding two housing pods to the facility.

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