The Hays County Commissioners Court approved a system of payment for GPS ankle monitors for county inmates at a meeting July 5. The payment for the system will come from American Rescue Plan Act funds that have already been set aside for pretrial diversion and related expenses, according to agenda documents.

"This is an issue that we have talked about for a while in the context of pretrial services; something that we would like to get going in the event that a judge orders [ankle] GPS monitoring ... we have funds budgeted," Commissioner Lon Shell said.

The ankle monitors will be used for individuals who have been arrested and can be released from jail but are considered "a risk for failure to appear." This will help with the county jail population, be more financially prudent than outsourcing inmates to other jails and accommodate inmate release from the jail when it could not have been done otherwise, General Counsel Mark Kennedy said. It will not be used on inmates who would have been released anyway.

"It is one of those wonderful things that is going to help us with our inmate population," Judge Ruben Becerra said.