Michael Tokos was incarcerated in Jim Hogg County Jail in Hebbronville, Texas in 2022. It appears that he may have died during his incarceration, though the Hogg County Sheriff’s Department has not filed a custodial death report in this regard. After a November 21, 2022, special jail inspection, Jim Hogg County Jail was cited for alleged noncompliance with minimum jail standards, and the death of an unnamed inmate was alluded to in the report.

TCJS Conducts Special Jail Inspections After Inmate Deaths

As a rule, the Texas Rangers conduct an investigation into every custodial death that occurs in a municipal or county jail in the state. In addition, the Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) sends one or more inspectors to the jail for a special jail inspection. It is not unusual for noncompliance reports to follow in which the death is alluded to.

Jim Hogg County Jail Report Associates a Custodial Death with Noncompliance

After a special jail inspection in November 2022, a TCJS inspector reported that Jim Hogg County Jail failed to meet the minimum jail standard under Rule §273.2(12), which is about the Health Services Plan. Part 12 requires action when an inmate takes prescription medication. Procedures involve determining whether the prescription medication is necessary for the treatment care, or stabilization of a mentally ill detainee.

• The TCJS inspector discovered that an inmate who died in the custody of Jim Hogg County Jail had been provided with a prescription medication at a facility where he was formerly housed. There was no documentation, however, indicating that the medication was reviewed or provided to the inmate.

Learn more in this ongoing series.

This website seeks to provide resource that can be helpful to county and city jail inmates in Texas. There is never an intention to imply that an organization or person has been involved in misdeeds.

–Guest Contributor