At 12:22 PM on March 16, 2021, 45-year-old Heather Renee Rodriguez was found without a pulse in her cell at Kerr County Jail in Kerrville, Texas. Jail staff started CPR and continued until the arrival of Emergency Medical Services. In spite of efforts to revive her, Ms. Rodriguez died that same night.

Jail inspection reports in which jails are found to be non-compliant frequently show that potentially life-saving activities are neglected. On April 18th, 2018, a jail inspection report on a Texas county jail reflects that an inspector with the Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) identified the following areas of noncompliance.

Training

Members of each jail staff involved in classification must be trained for at least 4 hours on how to classify inmates. This job includes learning procedures, principles, and instruments for making classification assessments, housing assignments, reassessment, and inmate needs.

• An inspector with TCJS found that jailers were classifying inmates without having gone through the required 4 hours of objective jail classification training.

Identification

It is required by minimum jail standards that a magistrate be notified when an inmate has been identified as one who is mentally disabled or potentially suicidal. 

• During an annual jail inspection, it was found that magistrate notification was not always being conducted by jail staff as required by minimum jail standards. 

Learn more in Part 1 and Part 2 of this three-part series. 

It is never an intention on this website to suggest that persons or organizations are participants in misdeeds. Posts are added to this website for the purpose of helping inmates now and previously detained in county jails in Texas.

–Guest Contributor