Kimble County Jail in Junction, Texas Fails Inspection

The Kimble County jail, in Junction, Texas, is now listed as being non-compliant by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards (“TCJS”). The Kimble County jail failed a March 2, 2021 inspection.

The TCJS inspector determined that the Kimble County, Texas jail violated three minimum standards. First, the Kimble County jail violated the standard that all medical instructions of designated physicians be followed. The TCJS inspector noted that inmate medication log/MARS forms completed by jailers demonstrated that jailers were not administering medication as ordered by a prescribing physician.

Second, the TCJS inspector was unable to verify that suicide prevention training has been provided to jailers, in accordance with the approved operational plan, since January 6, 2020. Our Texas civil rights law firm has found such training to be extremely important, as we have unfortunately handled a number of jail suicide cases in Texas. Jailers must receive appropriate training, and act on that training, to keep suicides from happening in Texas jails.

Finally, Kimble County jailers allegedly were not consistently following procedures, during intake screening, to identify inmates who are known to be or observed to be mentally disabled and/or potentially suicidal. Once again, it is extremely important to identify such inmates at the time of intake, as most suicides appear to happen within the first few hours or days of incarceration. Hopefully, the Kimble County, Texas jail will bring itself into compliance with minimum standards and in doing so assure the safety of its inmates.

Written By: Dean Malone

Dean Malone

Dean Malone is the founder of Law Offices of Dean Malone, P.C., a jail neglect civil rights law firm. Mr. Malone earned his bachelor's degree at the University of Texas at Dallas, graduating summa cum laude with a 4.0 GPA, and from Baylor University School of Law with a general civil litigation concentration. Mr. Malone served in several staff positions for the Baylor Law Review, including executive editor. Mr. Malone is an experienced trial lawyer, trying a number of cases to jury verdict and also handling arbitrations through final hearing. He heads the jail neglect section of his law firm, in which lawyers litigate cases involving serious injury and death resulting from jail neglect and abuse. Lawyers frequently refer cases to Mr. Malone due to his focus on this very complicated civil rights practice area.