An Inmate at Denton County Jail Dies After a Medical Emergency

A Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) inspector conducted an inspection at Denton County Jail, which is at 127 N Woodrow Ln in Denton, TX 76205. A resulting report dated March 8-10, 2022, cites the jail for five alleged violations of minimum jail standards.

Rule §275.1 requires jailers to provide face-to-face observations in certain intervals, depending on the classification of inmates. In the general population, face-to-face supervision must occur in staggered timeframes not to exceed every 60 minutes. In areas where the prisoners are known to be potentially suicidal, assaultive, or mentally ill or if they have been behaving bizarrely, they must be observed every 30 minutes maximum.

• According to a TCJS inspector, video documentation from the jail was reviewed and showed that staff did not properly conduct face-to-face observation of the inmate in Holding Cell 1. Instead of actually seeing the inmate inside the cell, staff merely scanned the electronic tag. The inmate in Holding 1 suffered a medical emergency that resulted in death.

In the next segment, learn details about the death of an inmate held in Holding 1 in Denton County Jail in December 2021.

Learn more in Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, and this continuing series.

In providing posts on this site, the hope is to help Texas inmates who are or have been detained in a municipal or county jail in the state. Accusing individuals or institutions of involvement in misdeeds is never intended on this website.

–Guest Contributor