A former guard at the privately operated McLennan County Detention Center on Columbus Avenue pleaded guilty today to a charge of giving contraband to inmates at a secure facility, a third-degree felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Michael Ray Hamilton III, an 18-year-old former jail guard known as "Big Mike" to inmates, was indicted for allowing two prisoners, Morgan Dyer and Chris McWilliams, to use his cell phone to make calls in October, authorities said. The use of cell phones by inmates is prohibited in detention centers, according to records filed in the case…

Six people spoke against privatization of county jail facilities at McLennan County Commissioners Court this morning before commissioners opened the lone proposal submitted in an effort to ease jail overcrowding problems.

Officer Phillip Zboril of the Waco Police Department's street crimes unit said his group arrests the "worst of the worst," noting that his unit is good at its job and floods the jail with criminals.

In a moment of levity, County Judge Jim Lewis responded that's part of the reason the county is in its current fix, because those officers do their job so well…

Uniformed county officers filled the seats and lined the walls of the small McLennan County Commissioners Court room Tuesday. They turned out in force to let commissioners know they are staunchly against privatizing the county jail on State Highway 6.

The county is weighing several options to stem overcrowding in its jail under pressure from state regulators. Building a new, larger jail on Highway 6 and privatizing its management is one idea on the table.

Officer Ricky Armstrong, one of roughly 60 officers at the meeting, listed his concerns, including public safety. County officers have had to respond to trouble at the privately run downtown jail before, he said. If the State Highway 6 jail also gets privatized, who will be there to step in and help the downtown jail when things get out of hand again, he asked….