Patsy Rosas, age 47, entered the Baytown, Texas, jail not long before midnight on September 1, 2021. She was placed in a cell and reported as being fine a couple of hours later at 1:30 am on September 2, 2021. Minutes before her death at 4:12 am, when a jailer checked her cell at 3:30 am, however, Ms. Rosas was face-down and blood was on the ground around her head.

Inmate supervision is achieved with face-to-face observations or cell checks by jailers. The Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS), the organization that sets minimum jail standards in Texas county jails, requires certain intervals in which these observations must take place. Studies on custodial deaths and on jail suicides, in particular, have found that direct supervision is the greatest deterrent to custodial deaths.

It is often a concern when annual jail inspections reveal that Texas jails have been non-compliant in areas that contribute to the safety of inmates. Failing to provide supervision as directed by TCJS is often recorded in Jail Inspection Reports. The following is an example.

CHAPTER 275-SUPERVISION OF INMATES; RULE §275.1-Regular Observation by Jailers

The general population in jails must be observed in intervals not to exceed every 60 minutes.

• In a Jail Inspection Report dated April 18, 2018, a Texas county jail’s observation logs pertaining to RULE §275.1 showed that the 60-minute face-to-face observation requirements were continuously exceeded by 1 to 3 minutes.

See Part 1 and Part 2 of this three-part series.

This site provides posts to benefit inmates in county jail facilities in Texas. There is never an intention to denote that individuals or organizations have participated in wrongdoing.

–Guest Contributor