Jail Inspection Report for Smith County Jail March 22-24, 2022, Continued

• The inspector with the Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) reviewed restraint chair logs and found that the 15-minute observation requirements were exceeded on multiple occasions by 1 to 10 minutes.

Understaffing is one of the issues that leads to the failure to provide required supervision of inmates. In this same jail inspection report for Smith County Jail, TCJS cited the jail for another issue regarding the supervision of inmates.

Smith County Jail Cited for Allegedly Violating Rule §275.4-Staff

Rule §275.4-Staff requires inmates to be supervised by a sufficient number of detention officers. For instance, one jailer must be provided on each floor of a facility where ten or more inmates are housed. Also, there must be no fewer than one jailer per 48 inmates on every floor for direct supervision of prisoners. This detention officer shall make a record of face-to-face observations of inmates in intervals not to exceed each hour. Adequate jail staff includes supervisors, detention officers, and other necessary employees to provide required jail functions. Information from the TCJS inspector notes follows:

It was found in a review of documentation that, on multiple occasions, Smith County did not staff the North Jail Facility and the Central Jail Facilities with no fewer than 1 jailer per 48 inmates during the month of March.

Learn more in Part 1 and Part 2 of this continuing series.

The aim of this website is to help municipal and county jail inmates in Texas by providing helpful resources. Accusing people or institutions of doing wrongs is never intended on this site.

–Guest Contributor