Texas Jails Release Seriously Ill Inmates on a PR Bond in Attempt to Avoid Responsibility

There is a practice among some county jails in Texas, when an inmate becomes seriously ill, attempts suicide, ends up in a coma, or otherwise appears as if he or she will not live. Counties commonly release such inmates on PR bonds, dropping them at the local hospital. Counties do this to avoid paying medical expenses for the inmate.

Regardless, the United States Constitution requires Texas county jails to pay for reasonable medical care for inmates. Counties cannot shirk their responsibility to care for pretrial detainees in their care, simply by “releasing” them on a PR bond and sending or admitting them to a local hospital.

If a county chooses to release a detainee on a PR bond due to serious illness and or expected death, such release will not absolve the county of potential liability pursuant to the Constitution.

The 14th Amendment, as interpreted by courts, requires a county not to have policies, practices, and or customs which could harm an inmate. Likewise, Texas county jailers cannot be deliberately indifferent to and/or act objectively unreasonably regarding known medical needs of an inmate. If they do, and a person dies as a result, then there could be potential liability in a civil rights lawsuit brought by certain surviving family members.

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.