Moore County, Texas Jail Fails to Comply with State Standards

The Moore County jail, in Dumas, Texas, is now listed as being non-compliant with minimum standards promulgated by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS). This occurred as a result of a death in the Moore County jail.

A TCJS inspector, after reviewing videos submitted by the Moore County Sheriff’s Department after the death of an inmate who was in a holding cell, noted that the inmate had not been observed multiple times over several hours before the inmate’s death. This is inexcusable. The most basic function for any jailer in a Texas county jail is to make appropriate periodic observations of detainees. Without observation, jailers are unable to contact mental health professionals and/or medical personnel in the event an inmate is having a mental health or medical crisis.

The TCJS inspector determined, with regard to the Moore County jail in Dumas, that observations were not conducted of the deceased inmate as required by minimum jail standards. The inspector determined that there were multiple hours when face-to-face observation simply did not occur.

The TCJS thus required the Moore County jail to submit a corrective plan of action to the inspector. The plan of action had to also “include some type of training for jail staff.”

The inspector also determined that inmates in the Moore County jail are “moved” in the jail’s computer system to show the inmate in a different location or cell than where the inmate is actually being held. Thus, with regard to the deceased inmate, the inmate was “moved” in the Moore County jail’s computer system to a different cell, while the cell he was actually housed in was noted in the computer system to be “empty.” The inspector wrote, “This practice will cease immediately.”

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