The Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) currently lists Atascosa County Jail in Texas as a Non-Compliant Jail on the TCJS website. A Notice of Non-Compliance was issued on August 28, 2023. It specifies the minimum jail standard the jail was cited for in a jail inspection report also issued on August 28, 2023. TCJS inspectors allege that the Jourdanton, Texas, jail violated 1 minimum jail standard.

The address of Atascosa County Jail is 1108 Campbell Ave, Jourdanton, TX 78026. The jail has a 138-bed capacity. Details on alleged noncompliance follow.

Rule §275.1-Regular Observations by Jailers

Atascosa County Jail was found to be non-compliant with the following rule in the chapter on the supervision of detainees. Rule §275.1-Regular Observations by Jailers states that every facility shall have the appropriate number of jailers at the facility 24 hours each day. Facilities shall have an established procedure for documented, face-to-face observation of all inmates by jailers no less than once every 60 minutes.

• A review of video submitted after a custodial death revealed an inmate was placed in the “dress out” room to shower and change into a jail-issued uniform and was not observed for 61 minutes.

In the custodial death report about a 34-year-old detainee at Atascosa County Jail, details are provided about his July 1, 2023, death. He entered the jail on June 26, 2023. At 11:36 p.m. on June 29, 2023, he was escorted to the dress-out room to change and take a shower. At 11:38 p.m., he was given jail clothing to change into. He was still in the dress-out room at 12:39 a.m. on June 30, 2023, when a corrections officer went to escort him to his new housing. When the officer opened the dress-out room door, he observed that the detainee was hanging from a towel wrapped around his neck. Other officers and the Jail Nurse on duty responded and contacted Emergency Medical Services (EMS). The detainee was cut down and lifesaving measures were initiated. The detainee was transported first to Methodist Hospital Atascosa and then he was moved to Main Methodist Hospital in San Antonio, Texas, where he was pronounced deceased at 1:50 p.m. on July 1.