Following the Custodial Death of Amie Coon, TCJS Cites Taylor County Jail for Alleged Jail Standards Violations

The Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) visited Tyler County Jail in Woodville, Texas, for an investigation in November 2017 following the custodial death of 41-year-old Amie Coon on November 12, 2017. This is a standard part of the investigation that follows custodial deaths in Texas. The cause of Coon’s death has not been made public. An autopsy was supposed to be done in Beaumont, Texas, shortly after the custodial death occurred. On November 22, TCJS published results of a Special Inspection Report. The jail was found to have allegedly violated two minimum jail standards requirements during the period of time in which Coon was found unresponsive in her cell.

The following are details about the TCJS inspection findings and alleged violations of jail standards by Tyler County Jail personnel:

• Every jail facility is required to have the appropriate number of detention officers every hour of each day. Procedures for making face-to-face observations of all prisoners must be followed, which includes a maximum time of making such observations every 60 minutes. In areas where prisoners are known to be mentally ill, potentially suicidal, behaving bizarrely, or assaultive, observations must be made every 30 minutes maximum. TCJS did a review of video evidence and documentation and determined that during the period when Coon was discovered to be unresponsive, there were no face-to-face observations between 1601 and 2149 hours, at which time she was discovered.
• Article 16.22 of the Code of Criminal Procedure says that referrals to available mental health officials must be made when prisoners are identified as being potentially suicidal or mentally disabled during intake screening. Allegedly, no documentation was submitted to prove that a Magistrate was notified with regard to Coon, though it was a mandatory requirement.

As with every post on this website, we are only providing information in this post and do not make any allegation or assertion that anyone acted inappropriately or engaged in misconduct.

–Guest Contributor

Written By: smchugh

smchugh