Elmer Dale Barrett was 70 years old when he died in the custody of Kaufman County Jail in Kaufman, Texas, on May 19, 2019. He had been discovered nonresponsive in his cell and medical personnel at the jail responded as well as Emergency Medical Services. Mr. Barrett was transported to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) receives complaints about county jails in Texas, as the entity responsible for establishing minimum jail standards. By far, more complaints are made about medical care every year as compared to any other issue. TCJS has established guidelines for each county jail as far as instituting procedures for providing inmates with medical care. The following is information from two of the applicable rules.

RULE §273.1 – Health Services

Each facility operator or owner must provide inmates with medical, dental, and mental services per the approved health services plan. Among the services that may be included are those of a licensed physician, hospital, and professional and allied health personnel.

RULE §273.2 – Health Services Plan

Each jail must have a written plan that is approved by the Commission. The approved plan must be implemented for inmates to receive dental, medical, and mental health services. The types of procedures that must be included in each jail’s health services plan include the following:

• Efficient and prompt care when acute and emergency situations occur;
• Referring inmates to receive medical, dental, and mental health services; and
• Convalescent and long-term care necessary in the appropriate care of disabled inmates.

Learn more in this ongoing series.

Each post on this website seeks to provide assistance to county jail inmates in Texas. There is no intention on this site to infer wrongdoing on any person or organization.

–Guest Contributor