Joshua Daniel Key was booked into Van Zandt County Jail, in Canton, Texas, on July 9, 2021. According to the Custodial Death Report for Mr. Key, he died presumably of natural causes on July 20, 2021. He was 48 years old at the time of his death.

Medical care is the complaint issue brought against Texas county jails more than any other, according to the Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS). The Commission is also responsible for enforcement, which primarily involves conducting jail inspections to ensure compliance. In the area of medical care, current procedures for inspecting jails don’t reflect complaint-riddled medical care in jails. However, some specific areas in Texas minimum jail standards involve inmate medical care that can be scrutinized during jail inspections.

Restraints

The use of restraints is one of those areas in which TCJS inspectors often discover documentation and/or video evidence of noncompliance. The instances are made public with the release of Jail Inspection Reports about allegedly non-compliant jails.

For example, inmates held in restraints must be personally checked by a jailer in intervals not to exceed every 15 minutes. These types of observation checks are recorded electronically and are also supposed to be accurately documented by jailers. In spite of this requirement and the importance of providing medical care, inspection reports frequently reflect a lack of noncompliance.

In this ongoing series, learn specifics on noncompliant Texas jails.

There is no intention on this website to infer that individuals or institutions have participated in misdeeds. Posts are provided as resources to help county jail inmates in Texas.

–Guest Contributor