WACO, TX — The Jack Harwell Detention Center will soon have someone else overseeing it.
The jail, currently under LaSalle Southwest Corrections, will be handed over to McLennan County on Oct. 1, according to the McLennan County Sheriff's Office.
LaSalle Southwest Corrections has not responded for comment.
Earlier this year, the detention center was declared non-compliant after its most recent inspection. It was the third time that the center had been declared non-compliant in the past year.
The March 2019 inspection had shown the center was failing to properly screen potentially suicidal inmates or inmates with mental illness.
Following the March 2019 inspection, an online petition was created by the Waco Immigrants Alliance asking the McLennan County Commissioners to break their contract with LaSalle Corrections.
"We have been advocating for about a year for McLennan County to take over the Jack Harwell detention center," said Hope Mustakim, Director of the Waco Immigrants Alliance. "It just feels good to see that our county is moving forward with something so positive."
Mustakim said they are very supportive of what Captain Armstrong is going to do with the facility. Armstrong is the McLennan County Jail Administrator.
"We are just hearing so many great things," said Mustakim. "We're just going to keep holding the county accountable to the people."
According to the sheriff's office, some changes at the center would include programs offering adult-based education, as well as mental health and mentoring classes.
