Preventing suicides, such as the death of Christopher Wayne Cabler, begins with adherence to guidelines for the supervision of inmates. The Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) establishes those guidelines and enforces them. A jail inspection report for Red River County Jail dated September 26, 2018, includes two alleged violations of minimum jail standards related to the supervision of inmates.

Prisoners detained in a detoxification cell or holding cell must be observed by jail personnel no more than every 30 minutes.

• TCJS inspectors found that the face-to-face observation checks of the inmates in the detox and holding cell were not conducted every 30 minutes as required.

The face-to-face observations of inmates in the general population must occur every 60 minutes at most.

• After examining documentation of General Population and Separation 60-minute face-to-face observation checks, it was determined that the 60-minute maximum was exceeded routinely for a time frame of 1 to 10 minutes.

The Special Inspection Report at Red River County Jail dated July 24, 2019, shows that the following requirement involving medication was allegedly not up to code:

All medical instructions given by a designated physician must be followed.

• Medical documentation was reviewed, and it was determined that after inmate Cabler was prescribed medications following a hospital visit, administration of the prescription continued for only three days. Two additional medications were given to Inmate Cabler, though no corresponding physicians’ order could be found for those medications.

See Part 1 and Part 2 of this three-part series.

This website’s posts are provided as resources to benefit Texas county jail inmates in Texas, both current and former. There is no intention to denote improprieties on the part of persons or institutions.

–Guest Contributor