Category: City Jails|County Jails|Custodial Death|Jail Inspections|Non-Compliant Jails|Outside Texas

Continuing from Part 1 of this series, the following are more of the recent concerns regarding a county jail in a state outside of Texas that has been inspected monthly for 16 months, though the disciplinary action has been halted:

• A fellow inmate found Michael Wormick, age 52, unresponsive in his jail cell in July 2020. The official cause of death is still unclear, but, for now, his death is listed as a result of health issues. Wormick’s death was the first after the unprecedented nine custodial deaths that occurred in the 11-month period ending May 2019.
• Five inmates at the jail have been mistakenly released in 2020, with the last two being released just this past weekend.
• Staff issues have also been a source of concern. For instance, deputies have been accused of beating prisoners. A former warden who resigned in April 2020 allegedly fostered a hostile workplace environment, and he is accused of forcing an employee to taxi him to an airport.
• Although there was a push within the state to release hundreds of prisoners facing nonviolent felony charges in response to the pandemic, the population of the jail has increased steadily.
• Jail officers as well as top officials at the jail are the subjects of dozens of indictments in a criminal investigation launched by the state’s Attorney General.

Read Part 1 and this continuing series to learn more about the jail events and conditions leading to unprecedented monthly jail inspections in the out-of-state jail.

This and all posts on this site purpose to serve as informational resources. There is no intent to imply misconduct of any kind occurred on the part of a person or institution.

–Guest Contributor

In a state outside of Texas, their governor announced in the summer of 2019 that the way state inspections are handled in their local jail facilities is going to undergo comprehensive changes. This statement was largely prompted by a crisis in a particular jail riddled with an uncommon number of troublesome events. The jail largely responsible for growing concerns about inspections has been subjected to monthly inspections as opposed to the typical annual inspection. This month, however, improvements at the jail have put a halt to monthly scrutiny.

The following are among the concerns that took place recently at the county jail in that state, in the midst of disciplinary actions being ceased:

• An inmate died in August, and family members found a letter among her things returned to them from the jail facility. The letter was about substandard jail conditions. Among the complaints was being served rotten food, and she said that the kitchen was vermin-infested. The woman’s family is raising flags about the lack of basic dignity extended to their loved one while she was incarcerated. The 28-year-old’s cause of death has not yet been released, but family members say that investigators with the medical examiner’s office indicated that signs point to death by overdose.

Read this continuing series to learn more about the out-of-state jail that has been subjected to unprecedented monthly jail inspections.

This and all posts on this site are intended to serve as an informational resource. There is no intent to suggest that any institution or person engaged in wrongdoing of any kind.

–Guest Contributor

To continue with stories out of jails in a state that is currently holding the jail inspection process under scrutiny, another custodial death that has been a concern happened in May 2016. Records show that the jail where this death occurred had failed to provide a plan for suicide prevention and intervention. Five months after this requirement was made known to the jail, a woman who was booked for a violation of probation managed to commit suicide less than an hour after entering the jail facility.

Court records reflect that in the case of this suicide, jail staff failed to follow basic measures for suicide prevention. Those measures included properly filling out a mental health screening assessment and removing the inmate’s shoelaces.  

After this custodial suicide, another two years passed and the Sheriff in charge of that jail stated in a sworn deposition that the jail manual still lacked a suicide prevention policy. As of November 2019, however, the suicide prevention plan has finally been adopted at that particular facility.

See Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4 of this six-part series.

Among the requirements for jail facilities is that inmates’ Constitutional rights must be upheld. A lawsuit can be brought against a jail if a custodial death occurs as a result of any jail practice, custom, or policy.

This and all posts on this website are provided for informational purposes. Neither misconduct nor wrongdoing are intended to be implied on the part of any individual, organization, or government institution.

–Guest Contributor

At another jail facility, a state inspection reflected a concern about the handling of well-being checks. At that point, it was noted that the well-being checks were not being done as often as they are required. The following year, the same violations were still occurring. This upgraded the level of concern in connection with inmate checks, bumping it up to significant concern. An additional issue was that guards were caught falsely claiming that checks were made, and many never happened.

In the face of these many findings consistent with recurring problems, the same issues in violations of jail standards continued.

In connection with another custodial death, this one in May of 2017, delayed well-being checks and falsified records were once again discovered during the follow-up jail inspection. Jail inspectors have said that they watched jail security video surrounding the death and discovered that two of the well-being checks that guards noted by hand in the record book never happened.

A jail suicide that occurred in the state received more than the usual attention because the inmate had worked for high-profile individuals in renowned positions of leadership. He suffered a mental breakdown in his battle against addiction. Court records were eventually released to the family, and it clearly showed that guards responsible for monitoring the man falsely claimed that they checked on him even as he lay on the floor of his cell with his neck wrapped in a sheet.

See Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of this ongoing series.

Jails are required to uphold prisoners’ constitutional rights. If a policy, custom, or practice at a jail causes a custodial death and is determined to be unconstitutional, that jail can be sued.

Like all posts on this site, this post is a resource to provide information. There is no intent to suggest or imply misconduct or wrongdoing on the part of any government institution or person

–Guest Contributor