We posted on our Facebook page about a recent Texas Commission on Jail Standards inspection report, documenting an inspection of the Bexar County jail. The Bexar County jail failed the inspection and in turn ended up being listed at TCJS’s website as a non-compliant jail.
There were numerous issues in the report, only some of which we address here. The jail violated minimum jail standards, pursuant to TCJS regulations, by employing civilian employees to do things such as performing releasing officer duties and performing duties of health personnel or trained book-in officers. Our law firm reviews jail inspection reports on a weekly basis, and we do not recall ever reviewing an inspection report in which a jail was noted as using civilian employees to perform such duties.
Further, and significantly troubling, Bexar County jail administration was unable to provide training records to confirm that detention officers had received suicide prevention training in accordance with approved operational plans. Suicide is, in some areas, the leading cause of death in county jails. Jailers and jail administration officials in all county jails in Texas know of the risk of suicide. Therefore, in our opinion, the failure to provide suicide prevention training, if such occurred, is an egregious violation of not only standards but of human rights.
Likewise, Bexar County observation logs indicated that jail staff exceeded required face-to-face 15-minute observations when such observations were required, on a continual basis. Further, regarding 60-minute observations, TCJS inspectors determined that the jail exceeded those observations on a continual basis by, at times, up to two hours, six minutes. There is no excuse for a jail covering a county as large as Bexar County, Texas to be experiencing such failures.
Pre-trial detainees, which comprise the vast majority of detainees in most Texas jails, are entitled to certain constitutional rights. The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that such pre-trial detainees shall receive reasonable medical care and mental health care. The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution also provides that pre-trial detainees are to be protected from themselves and others, whether it be an assault by a fellow prisoner or suicide by the prisoner. If a city or county violates these constitutional standards, it, as well as persons involved in the violation, whether it be jailers or police officers, can be liable to the person harmed or, if the person is deceased, the person’s family members and/or the administrator of the person’s estate.
