On September 23, 2022, 25-year-old Ariel Nicole Henley was booked into Dallas County Jail in Dallas, Texas. On October 5, 2022, at 5:02 PM, Ms. Henley was moved to the North Tower Gill Hernandez Medical Facility, Bed #8 in Unit NG03. Minutes later, at 6:30 PM, jail staff saw that she seemed to be choking and blood appeared to be coming out of her mouth. Facility medical staff responded, and Ms. Henley was transported by ground ambulance to the Parkland Memorial Hospital Emergency Room at 5200 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas TX 75235. Soon after, at about 7:46 PM, a physician pronounced Ms. Henley deceased. Her cause of death is unknown and pending results from an autopsy.

Dallas County Jail Fails a September 2022 Inspection

In a jail inspection report dated September 6, 2022, the Dallas County Jail is cited for one alleged violation of jail standards as set by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS). A letter from the TCJS Executive Director about non-compliance was sent to the Honorable Clay Jenkins, Dallas County Judge, and Dallas County Sheriff Marian Brown.

Rule §275.1-Regular Observation by Jailers requires each county jail in Texas to have the appropriate number of jailers at the facility 24 hours per day. Facilities must have established procedures in place for the documentation of face-to-face observations of inmates by jailers. The observations must be made every 60 minutes or, for at-risk inmates, every 30 minutes.

• The TCJS inspector noted in the report that a review of a video was submitted after a custodial death occurred at Dallas County Jail. The video revealed that observation rounds were not conducted in accordance with mandatory minimum jail standards. The jail administration will submit a corrective plan of action to the inspector who was onsite and to Inspector Gravitt within 30 days. The plan of action must include training on proper face-to-face observations for all jail staff.

See Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of this ongoing series.

Helping inmates jailed in municipal and county jails in Texas is the purpose of this website. Accusing people or entities of involvement in misdeeds is never intended on this site.

–Guest Contributor