Fannin County, Texas Jail Noncompliant with Standards

The Texas Commission on Jail Standards recently issued a special inspection report regarding the Fannin County, Texas jail. The report was issued on December 19, 2018.

The report includes a reference to the requirement that every county jail shall have an appropriate number of jailers at the jail 24 hours per day. Moreover, every jail must have established procedures to document face-to-face observations of all inmates by jailers no less than once every 60 minutes. Finally, the standard requires that observations be performed at least every 30 minutes in areas where inmates are known to be potentially suicidal, mentally ill, assaultive, or who have demonstrated bizarre behavior.

The report apparently related to an inmate’s death, as the inspector referenced reviewing video evidence regarding such a death. The inspector determined that, while 30-minute face-to-face observations occurred before the inmate’s death, the previous round of observations exceeded the 30-minute requirement by up to 49 minutes.

The Texas Commission on Jail Standards has minimum jail standards. However, it is our firm’s opinion that some such standards are inadequate. If an inmate is potentially suicidal, anything short of continuous observation is insufficient. It takes just a few minutes for an inmate to commit suicide, and he or she can be found after doing so, if only 30-minute observations are being conducted, long after he or she is deceased. Thus, simply complying with Texas Commission on Jail Standards standards does not necessarily absolve a Texas county jail or its jailers of liability for the death of an inmate.

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