The minimum jail standards set out by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS ) include many guidelines designed to keep inmates and others safe. The results of inspections of Texas county jails found to be in noncompliance result in Jail Inspection Reports that are made public. It is sometimes troubling to see the alleged minimum jail standards violations that are related to inmate safety. For instance, in a report for June 1, 2021, an inspector reported that jailers at a county jail in Texas had failed to entirely complete a document that helps to identify whether an inmate may be suicidal or have mental impairments. The following is another example.

Noncompliance: Checking Inmates in Restraints

Some of the rules related to restraints were covered in Part 2 of this series. One requirement that was not mentioned was that every 15 minutes at most jailers must check an inmate who is being held in restraints. During these checks, the circulation of the inmates’ extremities must be examined to ensure that blood circulation has not been cut off. A TCJS inspector made the following note about noncompliance in a report dated June 7, 2021:

• On two separate occasions in April 2021, jailers failed to conduct the quarter-hour face-to-face observations of inmates in restraints.

See Part 1 and Part 2 of this three-part series.

This website’s posts purpose to assist Texas inmates in county jails. There is no intent to suggest that persons or institutions have been involved in misdeeds.

–Guest Contributor