On the day after being booked into the Lubbock County Detention Center in Lubbock, Texas, 45-year-old Chad Douglas Farmer was pronounced dead by an emergency medical technician and paramedic who arrived at the jail with emergency medical services. The Lubbock County Sheriff’s office reported the custodial death, though no details were provided about the inmate’s cause of death or the reason he became unresponsive.

Intake screening is an important part of booking new inmates into Texas county jails, but the focus is primarily on mental health issues and the risk of committing suicide. All Texas inmates have a right to necessary medical, dental, and mental services. If emergency care is needed, members of the jail staff are required to provide immediate assistance. The following are details found in the Texas Code reflecting minimum jail standards for health care.

RULE §273.2 – Health Services Plan

Each county jail in Texas must establish and implement a written health services plan for dental, mental, and medical services to be provided to inmates. The following are among the requirements which the plans must include procedures for:

• Making regularly scheduled sick calls.
• Referring inmates for mental, dental, and medical services.
• Providing prompt, efficient care for inmates in emergency and acute circumstances.
• Long-term convalescent care necessary for inmates with disabilities.

Learn more in this continuing series.

The posts on this website are provided as potential resources to help county jail inmates in Texas, whether they are current or former prisoners. On this site, it is not intended to infer improprieties on individuals or entities.

–Guest Contributor