The El Paso County, Texas Jail is Cited Regarding Failure to Provide Required Observations of Inmates
The Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) conducted a jail inspection at El Paso County Jail in El Paso, Texas, and cited the jail for one alleged violation. The logs for 30-minute face-to-face observations of inmates in detoxification and holding cells indicated that there were numerous occasions when jail staff exceeded the time between 30-minute welfare checks by between 1 minute and 55 minutes. The intervals for observing inmates in holding and detox cells are not supposed to exceed every 30 minutes.
Suicides in jail are alarmingly common. In addition, inmates allegedly often experience medical emergencies in jail and yet rarely seem to get immediate care when needed.
Observation is especially important because it can be difficult to gauge when a person feels compelled to hurt or kill himself or herself when incarcerated. Studies done in Texas by the TCJS show that suicide attempts have occurred in as little as 14 minutes after a person has been in custody. Inmates have also been incarcerated for as long as 349 days before attempting suicide. As a result of research, jail suicide is recognized as an “action of opportunity,” and personnel in jails and prisons need to be aware that suicides can occur at any point in time while a person is behind bars.
Officer supervision has been found to be more effective for suicide prevention than video surveillance.
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