Jail medical records were among the details investigated following the death of Fredrick Lynn Jarmon on March 19, 2020. At age 46, Jarmon died in a hospital after incarceration at Johnson County Jail in Cleburne, Texas.

Provisions for medical care of inmates are included in guidelines for Texas jails. The Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) determines what those requirements are and enforces them largely through annual jail inspections at all county jails in the state. In recent years, a Texas jail was discovered to be non-compliant with regard to 84 minimum jail standards. Ultimately, the jail was subjected to monthly inspections in order to get the jail up to code. Inadequate health care was among the issues highlighted at the facility.

Sweeping reforms have been called for as a result of the problems at the Texas jail in which 9 inmates died in an 11-month period. One report on the jail alleged that conditions were inhumane for inmates, and the following specific issues were mentioned:

• Poor health care
• Squalid conditions
• Crowded inmate pods
• Inmates harassed and abused by jailers
• Insufficient leadership that led to abuse by jail guards and custodial deaths

Every inmate has a right to receive adequate medical care during periods of incarceration.

See Part 1 of this ongoing series.

All posts on this website are meant to benefit county jail inmates in Texas by providing helpful information. There is never an intention on this site to suggest that persons or institutions have engaged in wrongs.

–Guest Contributor