Heading into the long Labor Day weekend, the Dallas jail already was 99 percent full.
Arrests often go up during holidays and that can stress an already-crowded county jail.
Anticipating the problem, the Sheriff's Office began preparing out-of-commission cells before the Fourth of July.
Cells that hadn't been used in years began getting security cameras, lighting, plumbing and compliant beds.
"We're going into mothballing and preparing cells that have been offline for over a decade — that's extremely expensive," said County Commissioner John Wiley Price, who chairs the jail population committee.
The jail had more than than 7,000 detainees going into the holiday weekend. Contributing to the capacity issues are the
hundreds of inmates awaiting transfer to a state jail or mental facility.
"We've got three or 400 hundred people who are paper ready to be transferred," Price said. "But when the state knows that they have up to 45 days and they pick up 48 here, and then we call them and say, 'look, can you pick up more?' They pick up 40 there. That doesn't help us."
The state, though, is also challenged by understaffing and hefty workloads, he said.
"Our backs against the wall and we're having to do what we got to do to be in compliance," Price said. "We don't want the sanctions."
About 37 percent of more than seven thousand inmates are waiting for felony court adjudication.
Price said he has called the Texas Commission on Jail Standards to make them aware of the action being taken.
It costs $88 a day to keep someone in the Dallas jail.
Lew Sterrett Justice Center jail detainees cost about $18 million to house.
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