Hunt County, Texas Jail Prisoner Dies – Jail Listed as Non-compliant After 2018 Inspection

A prisoner in the Hunt County, Texas jail died on Saturday, February 23, 2019. The prisoner was allegedly found in distress in the jail, and was ultimately transported to a local hospital. It is our understanding that the Texas Rangers are conducting an investigation of the custodial death. This is typical, for custodial deaths occurring in Texas county jails. In fact, the Sandra Bland Act requires that an agency other than the agency involved in the death conduct any investigation. We will post more information regarding the incident as we learn about it.

The Hunt County jail is currently listed as being a non-compliant jail based on an April 18, 2018 inspection by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards. There were numerous issues noted in the report of that inspection.

Inspectors observed two large holes in the foundation of the jail, as well as numerous holes in the ceiling of the secured facility. The holes in the facility were covered with plywood and non-detention grade screws.

The fire system was tested under generated power. The fire panel, after it was triggered from a smoke alarm, displayed a trouble code. Jail staff were unable to reset the system while under emergency power.

Importantly, during a review of files regarding prisoners, Texas Commission on Jail Standards inspectors discovered two files containing medical records that were not separated. Those documents included the CCQ and Screening Form for Suicide and Medical and Mental Developmental Impairments. It is very important that Texas jails properly document prisoners with suicidal and/or self-harm tendencies, and those with psychological issues generally.

An inspector also noted that, when reviewing classification files, Hunt County was not following Hunt County’s approved plan. This included prisoners having a first initial reassessment within 60 days after the initial assessment. The inspector noted that reviewed files were consistently over the 60-day period.

Inspectors noted that Hunt County jail staff were not receiving the four hours of suicide prevention in-service training required by the Hunt County operational plan approved by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards. This is concerning, as jailers should be up-to-date on how to recognize suicidal tendencies, and what actions to take in the event such tendencies are known and/or observed.

Further, and equally concerning, Hunt County jail suicide observation logs indicated that observations must be conducted at no longer than 10-minute intervals. However, observations were documented by Texas Commission on Jail Standards to be over the limit by 6 to 8 minutes on a consistent basis.

Further, the Texas Commission on Jail Standards report regarding the Hunt County, Texas jail indicated that restraint logs did not include documentation of the time officers were removing restraints. Use of restraints with prisoners can raise constitutional issues, and it is vitally important that jailers appropriately document any such restraint use.

There were other issues in the jail inspection report. Our firm consistently reviews such reports for Texas jails, and the portion of the report documenting these and other issues was nearly two pages long. This is longer than most we have reviewed for Texas jails found by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards to be non-compliant.

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