Archer County, Texas Jail Fails State Inspection

The Archer County jail, in Archer City, Texas, recently failed an inspection by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS). The TCJS inspected the jail on or about July 21, 2022. The Archer County, Texas jail is now listed as being non-compliant by the TCJS.

The TCJS inspector, when reviewing Archer County jail records, determined that Archer County was housing inmates for Grayson County under contract. Grayson County is a facility which has over 100 beds, which in turn requires Archer County to have an approved tuberculosis plan. However, Archer County did not have any such approved plan.

Further, when reviewing records regarding licenses for jailers, two jailers in Archer County were found to have expired temporary licenses. One such license expired on September 28, 2021, and another such license expired on March 16, 2022. There is no excuse for using unlicensed jailers in the jail. This is particularly important because, to obtain a temporary jailer’s license in Texas, no education, experience, or training is required. Thus, Archer County may have been employing jailers that not only had expired licenses, but which had no jail-related formal education. This could lead to serious injury or death.

The TCJS inspector also found, on the day of inspection, that the Archer County facility fire panel was in “trouble mode” and could not be cleared. This is yet another serious violation and could lead to serious injury or death. Hopefully, Archer County jail will bring itself into compliance and avoid potential issues resulting from its failure to follow minimum standards.

Written By: Dean Malone

Dean Malone

Dean Malone is the founder of Law Offices of Dean Malone, P.C., a jail neglect civil rights law firm. Mr. Malone earned his bachelor's degree at the University of Texas at Dallas, graduating summa cum laude with a 4.0 GPA, and from Baylor University School of Law with a general civil litigation concentration. Mr. Malone served in several staff positions for the Baylor Law Review, including executive editor. Mr. Malone is an experienced trial lawyer, trying a number of cases to jury verdict and also handling arbitrations through final hearing. He heads the jail neglect section of his law firm, in which lawyers litigate cases involving serious injury and death resulting from jail neglect and abuse. Lawyers frequently refer cases to Mr. Malone due to his focus on this very complicated civil rights practice area.