The latest row became public when Becerra posted a video to his Facebook page March 12 after he was denied a walk-thru of the facility due to construction and COVID-19 concerns.
In a March 16 interview, Becerra said he believed with 100% certainty the virus was being used to shield the jail from inquests such as his.
"I've heard numerous complaints of Hays County law enforcement not wearing masks, and no one's had a problem with it in the past," Becerra said. "But all of a sudden when the shoe is on the other foot and I'm looking to assess a situation in one of our county buildings, now COVID-19 is of concern to you?"
Among their previous spats, Becerra's former chief of staff, Alex Villalobos, pursued an unsuccessful election bid for Cutler's job in November. Before that, Becerra made public a disagreement about being left out of the loop about a suicide in the Hays County Government Center.
Cutler and the Hays County Sheriff's Office have consistently denied the recent alleged issues at the jail, which included structural damage and toilets only able to flush a few times per hour without causing smells of sewage.
Chief Deputy Mike Davenport said in an email HCSO was unaware of any major issues concerning sewage smells at the jail.
Becerra said in an interview his sources of information about the jail included HCSO officers with first-hand experience.
"I am being told by county employees, whistleblower-type conversations, where they're calling out all the things," Becerra said. "[Cutler] is just not willing to fix it or address it, and I don't know why; it doesn't come out of his paycheck."
Davenport declined to comment on Becerra's sources without knowing the employee's identity.
A statement issued by Cutler claims his office was never made aware of what Becerra's specific concerns were before the March 12 video was released.
A screenshot of an email between Becerra's office and District Attorney Mark Kennedy, which is dated March 11 and was posted by Becerra to his Facebook page, appear to show the judge's concerns being detailed. However, screenshots of emails to Cutler and his office in the same image do not appear to share specific concerns.
Cutler's statement also invited Becerra to request an inspection of the facility by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards.
Becerra accepted the sheriff's suggestion, and the judge posted a letter to his Facebook page he penned to Brandon Wood, the executive director of TCJS, on March 15, which requested an inspection of the facility.
"As mentioned, last week I received reports of inmates unable to flush toilets more than three times per hour [without] creating the smell of human waste," Becerra wrote. "They suspect that this may be exacerbated by a lack of airflow due to vents that do not open to the outdoors and only vent between the walls. There are also reports of broken walls and a putrid smell of swamp gas in the jail cells."
A statement issued by Cutler on March 16 said an unannounced on-site visit from TCJS found the facility to be in compliance with "all minimum standards as required by the state agency."
“While I was not surprised about the outcome of the site visit, I am grateful to the hardworking men and women of the Hays County Sheriff’s Office, who take care of the facility and its residents, for their continued dedication to meeting all jail standards," Cutler said.
Cutler's March 16 statement also reiterated that Becerra had not shared specifics of his concerns about jail conditions.
Despite inviting the TCJS inspection, Cutler also accused Becerra of circumventing HCSO's "internal processes to investigate his concerns and contacted Texas Commission on Jail Standards directly."
A March 22 statement from Becerra claims a total of four attempts were made to handle the matter internally before he posted his March 12 video. The four claimed attempts appear to be communications with the captain in charge of the jail, emails to Cutler and his office, the email to the district attorney and an attempt to use a county commissioner as an intermediary.
He also implied repairs were made between his March 11 emails and the March 16 inspection, with one repair remaining to correct an issue restricting the number of times toilets could be flushed every hour in one section of the jail.
Another statement issued by Cutler on March 23 confirmed an issue with a mechanism intended to restrict excessive flushing to prevent purposeful flooding was found and corrected during the inspection, but did not mention if other repairs had been made recently.
The report said all of the jail's living areas were inspected, and no putrid smells were detected. Multiple inmate interviews were also conducted, according to the report.
The inspection noted a classroom was under construction in the jail but pointed out the area was not accessible by inmates. There were no mentions in the report of structural damage to the jail, and no technical assistance was administered by the inspector.
The full report can be viewed online.
On March 19, HCSO announced on-site visitations to the jail would resume March 22, which could open the door for Becerra's walk-thru.
"We will pay whatever is necessary to make sure that the residents housed in the facility are properly cared for, because this is not a third world country where we should find those conditions to be OK just because someone is in jail," Becerra said. "That's not one of the conditions of punishment."
