Thirty-three-year-old Brandon Ford died on October 18, 2021. He was in the custody of the North Richland Hills Police Department jail facility in Tarrant County, Texas, at the time and had been for little more than 24 hours.

Rule §273.5(b)

An inspector with the Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) found that practices for handling the screening documents for inmates with mental disabilities and/or suicidal ideations was not up to minimum jail standards. The information conveyed on his notes follows:

The medical files were reviewed during the annual jail inspection, and it was found that the Suicide and Medical/Mental/Developmental Impairments screening form is not being filled out entirely by the jail staff, as required. 

Rule §275.1

Inmates housed in the at-risk portion of the jail include those who are known to be potentially suicidal, assaultive, mentally ill, or have behaved in a bizarre manner. Jail staff must observe these inmates in intervals no greater than every 30 minutes. Although closed-circuit television can be used to monitor inmates, the screens cannot be used as a substitute for personal observations every half hour at the most.

The TCJS inspector reviewed the documentation for face-to-face inmate observations. He discovered that the 30-minute maximum time frame for personal observations was exceeded routinely by anywhere from 2 to 45 minutes. It was also discovered that the only accurate documentation was obtained through the facility control system’s camera.

Learn more in Part 1 and this ongoing series. 

There is no intention on this website to imply that persons or institutions have engaged in any type of wrongdoing. In providing informational posts on this site, the goal is to supply Texas county jail inmates with helpful resources.

–Guest Contributor