Every jail in Texas is required to ensure that the facility has the appropriate number of jailers 24/7. This requirement is important to ensure that the required face-to-face observations of inmates are conducted by jailers. In the general population, the inmates must be personally observed every 60 minutes at most. In areas where assaultive, suicidal, mentally ill, and potentially suicidal inmates as well as inmates exhibiting bizarre behavior are confined, the observations must be performed every 30 minutes at most.

Two Texas jails were cited for alleged violation of these requirements. The following are summarizations of the notes left to those specific jails:

1. Video evidence, submitted documentation, and self-reporting by the administration on the jail staff were reviewed. It was discovered, as a result, that on 30-minute observation requirements as well as 60-minute observation requirements, face-to-face cell observations were conducted late or not conducted for 1 to 3-hour periods during the day shift on two days in January 2020 and two days in February 2020.  
2. Face-to-face cell observations were not conducted as required, according to a review of video evidence, documentation, and self-reporting by jail administration.

See Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 of this 11-part series about results of jail inspection reports reflecting instances of non-compliance in 2020.

This post is provided as an informational resource. There is not an intention in this or other blog posts on this site to infer that any institution, organization, or individual has engaged in misconduct of any kind.

–Guest Contributor