Cameron County, Texas Jail Fails State Inspection
The Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) now lists Cameron County Jail in Texas as a Non-Compliant Jail on the TCJS website. Cameron County was found to be in violation of a minimum jail standard as a result of a special jail inspection, and the jail inspection report was issued on April 3, 2023.
The address of Cameron County Jail is 954 E. Harrison, Brownsville, TX 78520. Details on alleged noncompliance follow.
RULE §275.1-Supervision of Inmates-Regular Observation by Jailers. This rule states that each jail facility will have the appropriate number of jailers present in the facility 24 hours a day. There must be procedures established for face-to-face observation of all inmates by a jailer no less than once every 60 minutes, and there must be documentation of the observations. In areas where inmates are mentally ill, potentially suicidal, assaultive, or have demonstrated bizarre behavior are confined, the face-to-face observations must be performed at least every 30 minutes.
- TCJS inspectors reviewed a video submitted after a custodial death, and it revealed that at least two of the observation rounds were not conducted in accordance with minimum jail standards.
A special jail inspection is conducted for various reasons, including after there is a custodial death in a county jail. There was a custodial suicide in Cameron County Jail on January 27, 2023. Incidentally, Cameron County Jail failed an inspection report that was conducted in December 2021. There were three violations of minimum jail standards. One of those violations was for failing to provide two hours of suicide prevention training as detailed in their Mental Disabilities/Suicide Prevention Operational Plan.
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