Wilbarger County, Texas Jail Fails State Inspection

The Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) has recently listed Wilbarger County Jail in Texas as a Non-Compliant Jail on the TCJS website. A Notice of Non-Compliance was issued on May 30, 2023. It specifies the minimum jail standard the jail was cited for in a jail inspection report issued on May 30, 2023. TCJS inspectors allege that the Vernon, Texas, jail violated 1 minimum jail standard.

The address of Wilbarger County Jail is 5215 College Dr, Vernon, TX 76384. The jail has a housing capacity of 49 inmates. Details on alleged noncompliance follow.

Rule §273.6 (3)- Restraints

Wilbarger County Jail has been cited for violating Rule §273.6 (3)- Restraints, Part (3), as follows: A documented observation of the inmate shall be conducted every 15 minutes, at a minimum. The observations should include an assessment of the security of the restraints and the circulation to the extremities.

Observation checks of inmates restrained with the restraint chair were conducted from 1 to 8 minutes over the required 15-minute time frame on 5 occasions on a total of 37 observations on two logs.

Wilbarger County Jail was Cited for Non-Compliance with Jail Standards After the Past Two Annual Inspections

TCJS listed Wilbarger County Jail in Texas as a Non-Compliant Jail as a result of annual jail inspections in 2022 and 2021. In 2021, Wilbarger County Jail was cited for violating 4 minimum jail standards. Details on the 2022 citations follow.

A Notice of Non-Compliance was issued on July 26, 2022. It specifies the minimum jail standards the jail was cited for in a jail inspection report issued on July 20, 2022. TCJS inspectors found that Wilbarger County Jail was noncompliant with 7 jail standards. The rules are listed below with the inspector’s notes pertaining to non-compliance.

Rule §263.41- Training of staff for emergency situations was not conducted for the 2^nd quarter of 2022
Rule §263.42- An inspection of the facility by a local fire official was last conducted on May 7, 2021, placing the inspection two months overdue.
Rule §263.56- During the review of generator logs, it was observed that weekly tests of the facility generator were not documented for 24 various weeks since the last annual inspection. And a load test of the generator was not conducted for July 2021.
Rule §265.3 (a)- The verification of prisoners using the Veterans Reentry Search Service has not been conducted since December 2021.
Rule §273.5(a)(1)- At least 2 hours of training in accordance with the approved Mental Disabilities/Suicide Prevention Plan for staff on the procedures for the recognition, supervision, documentation, and handling of inmates who are mentally disabled and/or potentially suicidal has not been conducted since May 22, 2019.
Rule §275.2- During the review of staff licensing, it was determined that a staff member does not possess a valid TCOLE Jailers License. The identified staff member has actively worked within the facility since May 2021.
Rule §275.6 (3)- Only 3 contraband checks of the facility have been documented since June 5, 2021.

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