Denton County, Texas Jail Fails State Inspection

The Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) recently inspected the Denton County, Texas jail. As a result, the Denton County jail is now listed as being non-compliant at the TCJS website. The TCJS inspector found a number of minimum standards violations.

The TCJS inspector found that the facility generator for the pre-trial facility failed to operate automatically when power was disconnected to the facility. The inspector also determined that the main jail facility and pre-trial facility both failed the annual inspection by a Fire Marshall on May 27, 2021. They also failed a re-inspection occurring on June 18, 2021. Even after that lengthy period of time, corrections for the deficiencies noted on the inspection report had not been made.

Further, the fire alarm system in the pre-trial tower facility was inoperable at the time of inspection. Further, the fire alarm panel for the courthouse was red-tagged on August 28, 2021. As of the time of the TCJS inspection, March 8 – 10, 2022, repairs to the courthouse fire alarm system still had not been completed.

Finally, and of serious concern, after reviewing video documentation, the TCJS inspector determined that jail staff failed to conduct the proper face-to-face observation of an inmate in a holding cell. Jail staff merely scanned an electronic tag without actually seeing the inmate in the cell. This resulted in a medical emergency, which in turn resulted in an inmate death in the holding cell. The TCJS inspection report does not identify the inmate who died in the holding cell in Denton County.

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.