Bowie County could lose $5.2 million annually because state inmates will no longer be housed in county jails, but officials are looking for ways to fill the beds and county coffers.

“These were temporary contracts,” said Lawrence Coleman, the Texas Senate’s Criminal Justice Committee policy director. “Four or five years ago, we had an inmate overflow, but now we have the space for housing these inmates.”

The Texas Legislature recently decided to stop financing the housing of state inmates in four county jails.

Now Bowie county officials will consider contra...

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