Van Zandt County, Texas Jail Fails State Inspection

The Van Zandt County jail in Canton, Texas failed a January 25, 2021 inspection by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards (“TCJS”). The Van Zandt County jail is now listed as being a non-compliant jail by the TCJS. Hopefully, the Van Zandt County jail will bring itself into compliance.

The TCJS inspector noted that restraint chair logs showed that Van Zandt County jail staff exceeded the required 15-minute observation checks by as few as one minute, but by as long as seventeen minutes, on multiple occasions. This is a serious problem, as inmates put into restraint chairs are purportedly those who exhibit behavior indicating that they are a danger to themselves and others. At some point, keeping a person strapped into a restraint chair could become torture and moreover violate the United States Constitution.

The TCJS inspector also found that the Van Zandt County jail violated a minimum standard regarding staff supervision. The TCJS inspector noted that inmate workers in the kitchen were preparing inmate meal trays without immediately staff supervision.

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.