Cherokee County, Texas Jail Fails State Inspection
A jail inspection report was issued on March 29, 2023, citing the Cherokee County Jail for failure to comply with minimum jail standards. The Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) now lists Cherokee County Jail in Texas as a Non-Compliant Jail on the TCJS website. Records show that a jail inspection report issued on October 15, 2020, found Cherokee County Jail allegedly noncompliant with 5 violations. In this latest Notice of Non-Compliance, the TCJS inspectors found that the Rusk, Texas, jail failed to meet 3 minimum jail standards.
The address of Cherokee County Jail is 272 Underwood St, Rusk, TX 75785. Details on alleged 2023 noncompliance follow.
- RULE §265.3 is in the chapter about Admission, and section 3 is about Observation During Holding. Inmates confined in a detoxification cell or holding cell must be observed by jail personnel at intervals not to exceed 30 minutes.
- Records were reviewed, and it was discovered that jail staff at Cherokee County Jail routinely exceeded the 30-minute observation time period.
- RULE §275.1, in the chapter on the Supervision of Inmates, is about Regular Observation by Jailers. County jails must have an established procedure for face-to-face observations of inmates by jailers in intervals not to exceed every 60 minutes. In areas where inmates are mentally ill, potentially suicidal, assaultive, or exhibiting bizarre behavior, the face-to-face observations must be performed in intervals that do not exceed 30 minutes.
- Upon review of the documented observations of inmates, it was discovered that jail staff routinely exceeded the required 60- and 30-minute observation periods.
- RULE §275.2 provides the minimum jail standards that apply to Jailers’ Training and Licensing. It states that personnel employed or appointed as jailers of county jails or personnel appointed, employed, or assigned to directly supervise jailers shall be licensed as per the requirements of the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement under the provisions of Part 7 of this title. Personnel employed or appointed as jailers or personnel appointed, employed, or assigned to directly supervise jailers at facilities operated under vendor contract with a county or city shall be licensed as per the requirements of the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement under the provisions of Part 7 of this title.
- Staff licensing records were reviewed, and it was determined that 10 staff members appointed as temporary jailers were not registered for a basic licensing course on or before the 90th day after the appointment.
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