Bennie Ray Bell was booked into El Paso County’s downtown detention facility on March 6, 2022. He was later transferred to the Jail Annex in El Paso, Texas, and placed in Isolation Cell-2, according to the Custodial Death Report (CDR) written about him. He was discovered to be experiencing a medical emergency in his cell on July 24, 2022. Life-saving measures were initiated, but he was pronounced deceased that same day.

Rule §275.1-Regular Observation by Jailers – Jail Inspection Report Continued

Inspectors with the Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) left an extensive note regarding Rule §275.1. The following conveys some of the information on a Jail Inspection Report pertaining to alleged non-compliance by Tyler County Jail:

• Twelve jailer TCOLE certification records were randomly selected and reviewed. Jailer documentation was reviewed, and members of the staff were interviewed. Following an escape incident from the Tyler County Jail, an inspector stated that, at the time when the escape occurred, observation checks did not appear to have been performed for a few hours.

• The review of documentation also revealed that observation checks were usually performed in completely predictable patterns of timing. The jail is required to plan staff training on the proper way to conduct observation checks, which includes ensuring random observation checks as opposed to set patterns of supervision.

Learn more in Part 1 and this continuing series.

The purpose of this site is to reach out to Texas inmates who have been incarcerated in municipal or county jails. Implicating persons or institutions in wrongdoing is never intentional on this website.

–Guest Contributor