Titus County, Texas Jail Fails State Inspection

The Titus County jail, in Mt. Pleasant, Texas, failed a Texas Commission on Jail Standards (“TCJS”) inspection on June 16, 2021. The Titus County jail is now listed as being non-compliant by the TCJS.

The TCJS found at least five violations. From our perspective, the violations were serious and could lead to serious injury or death. We see a number of jail death cases in which TCJS violations occur, and which lead to inmate death.

The TCJS inspector noted, when reviewing records, that observations of inmates in holding cells routinely exceeded the 30-minute interval by as little as one minute and by as much as 32 minutes. Titus County jail records also revealed multiple initial custody assessments being completed improperly. This resulted in inmate custody levels being incorrect.

The TCJS inspector also found, when reviewing records, that multiple custody reassessments were completed improperly. Further, staff who had not completed the required four hours of classification training were, nonetheless, performing classification duties. Finally, documentation reviewed by the TCJS inspector revealed face-to-face observations of inmates exceeded the minimum 60-minute interval by as little as one minute and by as much as 27 minutes. The inspector also found that 30-minute face-to-face observations, as indicated above, routinely exceeded the required minimum interval.

These are serious violations. Hopefully, the Titus County jail will bring itself into compliance quickly and thereby protect inmates and jailers.

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.