Wilbarger County, Texas Jail Fails State Inspection

The Wilbarger County jail, in Vernon, Texas, recently failed an inspection by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS). The inspection occurred on or about July 20, 2022. Therefore, the Wilbarger County jail is now listed as being non-compliant by the TCJS at the TCJS website. The TCJS sent a letter to the Wilbarger County Sheriff and Wilbarger County Judge regarding the jail’s noncompliance.

The TCJS inspector found, when reviewing life safety training, that life safety training had not been conducted for the second quarter of 2022. However, jail administration said that training was completed, but not documented.

The inspector also found that the jail was last inspected by a local fire official on May 7, 2021. This placed the annual inspection overdue by 2 months. The inspector also determined when reviewing generator logs that weekly tests of the facility generator were not documented for 24 weeks, at various times, since the last annual inspection.

The TCJS inspector also found when reviewing records related to veterans who might have been incarcerated in the jail that the jail had last investigated and verified veteran status of prisoners in December 2021. The jail was instructed to immediately start checking prisoners against the appropriate veteran database.

Yet another serious violation noted by a TCJS inspector was that jail staff last received two hours of training on the procedures for recognition, supervision, documentation, and handling of inmates who are mentally disabled and potentially suicidal on May 22, 2019. Our Texas jail neglect and abuse law firm is handling a number of cases, and has handled a number of cases, in which inmates die as a result of suicidal tendencies and/or mental health issues. It is vitally important for all Texas jails to provide appropriate training to avoid such occurrences.

Shockingly, the jail also had a jailer working who did not possess a valid jailer’s license. The jailer was hired in May 2021, but TCOLE records show a service end date of December 19,  2020. Licensure, if permanent, evidences that some training and/or education has occurred. The failure to have appropriate training and/or education could lead to serious injury and/or death of inmates. The inspection resulted in a notice of non-compliance directed to officials in Wilbarger County. Hopefully, the county will remedy these issues.

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.