The Morris County Jail in Daingerfield, Texas, was found non-compliant with minimum jail standards, per a Notice of Non-Compliance sent by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) on September 12, 2022, from Brandon S. Wood, TCJS Executive Director. A Jail Inspection Report was issued to the jail on September 7, 2022, and Morris County Jail is now listed as a Non-Compliant Jail on the TCJS website.

TCJS cited Morris County Jail for non-compliance with regard to the following minimum jail standards:

§273.2(7)-Health Services Plan. Under part (7) of this rule, prescriptions must be distributed in keeping with written instructions from a doctor, and the person dispensing the medication must be an appropriate individual designated by the sheriff/jail operator.

• During review of Medication Administration Records, the TCJS inspector found that the records failed to show evidence that medications are being distributed per doctors’ written instructions.

§273.5(a)(7)- Mental Disabilities/Suicide Prevention Plan. Procedures must be in place for reporting of completed suicides to family members and outside authorities. Such procedures must be followed during intake screening in order to identify inmates who are potentially suicidal or mentally disabled. Article 6.22 and referrals must be made available to mental health officials.

• On multiple occasions, jail staff failed to notify the magistrate within 12 hours in keeping with the Code of Criminal Procedure Article 16.22 when warranted by positive returns on the CCQ or affirmative answers on the Screening Form for Suicide and Mental/Medical/Developmental Impairments.

§275.1-Regular Observations by Jailers. This rule is in the chapter on Supervision of Inmates. The pertinent part of this minimum jail standard, in connection with this alleged failure to comply, is that observation must be performed at least every 30 minutes in parts of the jail where inmates are known to be possibly suicidal, mentally disabled, assaultive, or who have demonstrated bizarre behavior.

• Observation records must be performed in intervals not to exceed every 30 minutes where inmates are housed who have mental illness or potentially suicidal ideations or have been assaultive or have behaved bizarrely.

§281.5-Staff Supervision is under the chapter on Food Service in county jails. Per this requirement, food shall be prepared under the supervision a staff member or contract employee who possesses a food handler license in accordance with Texas Food Establishment Rules (TFER) §228.33.

• Inmate workers in the kitchen were observed to be preparing food without immediate staff supervision.

§285.1-Physical Exercise is in the chapter on Recreation and Exercise. Jails are required to maintain documentation of physical recreation and physical exercise for the purpose of Commission review. Each inmate shall be allowed one hour of physical recreation or physical exercise at least three days each week.

• It was noted during the review of documentation that records failed to show that inmates are given the required one hour of supervised recreation at least three days each week.

All minimum jail requirements are important, but some have more serious implications than others. For instance, failure to comply with procedures related to giving mentally ill and potentially suicidal inmates could have disastrous consequences. Observation requirements are also crucial in areas where inmates are possibly suicidal or mentally disabled. Supervision is considered the most effective deterrent to suicide. When observation rounds are neglected, records in Texas jails have shown that the result can be a custodial death caused by suicide.