Camp County, Texas Jail Fails State Inspection

The Camp County, Texas jail is now listed as a non-compliant jail by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards (“TCJS”). The jail’s status is as a result of a May 7, 2019 inspection. There were primary issues:

First, a power-operating lock on the entrance door to the sally port is inoperable. Further, even manual operation of the door is unavailable. This presents a security risk to jailers and prisoners.

The second issue is an issue that we commonly see, far too often, in Texas jails. A Texas minimum jail standard is that inmates who are confined in a detoxification or holding cell must be observed by facility personnel at intervals which do not exceed 30 minutes. With regard to the Camp County, Texas jail, in Pittsburg, Texas, the TCJS inspector, after reviewing observation logs, determined that jailers were exceeding the 30-minute required face-to-face observations. Jailers were exceeding the 30-minute interval by as little as 1 minute by up to 21 minutes on a continual basis.

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.