People commonly ask how to sue a county jail for negligence, much of the time arising out of a denial of medical care, or sometimes as a result of a failure to protect one detainee from an assault by another detainee. In Texas, a person cannot sue a county jail directly. In fact, a person cannot sue a sheriff’s department directly.

The appropriate way to file any lawsuit regarding jail neglect and or abuse in Texas, including denial of medical care or failure to provide medication, is to file suit against the county itself. A county’s policies, practices, and or customs can unfortunately at times lead to serious injury or death. A person suing a county for a jail’s abuse or neglect, when filing constitutional claims, must show that such a policy, practice, and or custom caused the injuries and or death.

A person may also be able to file suit against individuals working in the jail.  In order to do so, while the law is a bit in flux at this point, a person must usually show that another person was deliberately indifferent to known medical and or mental health needs. In many parts of the country, a person need not show deliberate indifference, but instead simply that an individual acted objectively unreasonably. This makes sense, because most people in Texas County jails have not been convicted of anything but are simply awaiting trial. A jail cannot punish them.  Under our constitutional law system, they are presumed innocent.

Counties can also be sued when one detainee is not protected from assault, physical or otherwise, including sexual assault. If a county or jailers, or medical or mental health personnel in a county jail, are aware of a threat to a particular detainee, and they fail to take action, then they may be liable to that detainee. Further, if a person dies as a result of something occurring in a Texas County jail, certain family members may be able to file suit to be sure that constitutional and civil rights are enforced.

Written By: Dean Malone

Dean Malone

Dean Malone is the founder of Law Offices of Dean Malone, P.C., a jail neglect civil rights law firm. Mr. Malone earned his bachelor's degree at the University of Texas at Dallas, graduating summa cum laude with a 4.0 GPA, and from Baylor University School of Law with a general civil litigation concentration. Mr. Malone served in several staff positions for the Baylor Law Review, including executive editor. Mr. Malone is an experienced trial lawyer, trying a number of cases to jury verdict and also handling arbitrations through final hearing. He heads the jail neglect section of his law firm, in which lawyers litigate cases involving serious injury and death resulting from jail neglect and abuse. Lawyers frequently refer cases to Mr. Malone due to his focus on this very complicated civil rights practice area.