Dallas County Jail is Non-Compliant with a Standard on Inmate Supervision

In a jail inspection report dated February 14-18, 2022, the Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) cited the Dallas County Jail in Dallas, Texas, for the alleged violation of four minimum jail standards. One is related to the serious matter of inmate supervision, that being Rule 275.1-Regular Observation by Jailers. Specifics of the rule were included in the last segment of this series. The TCJS inspectors’ findings in connection with the Dallas County Jail’s violation of Rule 275.1 in the February 2022 inspection follow:

• Inspectors conducted a walkthrough of the area in the Dallas County Jail where inmates are housed in the intake holdover area. Written documentation in the logs about the face to face observations of suicidal/aggressive inmates were compared with video documentation. It was discovered that the observation logs were incorrect because they did not match up with the video. Inspectors also noted that the standard of procedure with inmates designated to be in suicide prevention status is to make observations every 15 minutes.

The greatest deterrent to suicide is direct human supervision, according to The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. There are numerous reasons inmates in local jails may be suicidal. Experts say any inmate could be suicidal at any given point, even if there have been no outwards signs to that effect.

The TCJS inspector See Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, and this continuing series.

This site was established and is updated frequently for the purpose of providing helpful resources that could be of benefit to county and municipal jail detainees. There is never an intention of making implications that institutions or people have engaged in wrongs.

–Guest Contributor