Category: City Jails|County Jails|Jail Inspections|Medical Care|Texas Commission on Jail Standards

The address of Dawson County Jail is 400 South 1st Street in Lamesa, Texas 79331; and the phone number is (806) 872-7560. Dawson County Jail has an inmate capacity of 54. The responsibilities of the Dawson County Sheriff include jail operations. Minimum jail standards are determined by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS). Enforcement procedures for maintaining those standards involve jail inspections and increased oversight of non-compliant jails.

Medical Care at Texas Jails

A requirement for Dawson County Jail and all jails in Texas is to provide health services to prisoners as required in the Texas Commission on Jail Standards section of the Texas Administrative Code. The health services requirements include the following:

• The jail will submit a health services plan approved by the TCJS.
• The health services plan includes procedures to maintain a health record on each individual inmate.
• Medical records of inmates must include health screening administered either by a jailer who has been trained or by a health professional at the time inmates are booked into jail. The screening must include the following information:
  • Health history;
  • Current treatment for mental, medical, and dental care;
  • Current prescriptions, therapy, special diets, and illnesses;
  • Behavioral observation, which includes mental status and level of consciousness.
• An inventory of body deformities must be made, which includes the presence of lice and vermin, condition of body orifices, markings, and ease of movement.
• Another set of health records will show all subsequent treatment, disposition, diagnosis, findings, medical isolation, medication distribution, and the name of any institution to which the prisoner’s health record has been released.

This website’s posts are meant to be informational resources. There is not an intention to suggest that any individual or institution has engaged in any type of misconduct.

–Guest Contributor

The address of Donley County Jail is 301 S Jefferson Street in Clarendon, Texas 79226; and the phone number is (806) 874-3533. Donley County Jail has an inmate capacity of 20. The responsibilities of the Donley County Sheriff include jail operations. The Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) determines minimum jail standards and provides oversight. Jail inspections and increasing the jail oversight of non-compliant facilities are the primary jail standard enforcement methods.

Medical Care

Inmate health services must be provided for all Texas inmates, including those at Donley County Jail. The guidelines for medical care include medical records on inmates being followed through all parts of the admissions and classification process of inmates. If, for example, medical records, institutional history, current behavior, or intake screening identify the possibility of being suicidal, the suicidal risk must be made note of in the medical file.

As a result of being designated a risk for suicide, various events are supposed to occur. For instance, a potentially suicidal inmate would likely be placed in a cell with other at-risk inmates or in a single cell with one cellmate. A suicidal inmate might be placed in the infirmary.

An inmate should receive appropriate medical and/or psychiatric health services. If transport outside the secure facility of the jail is utilized, jailers should be able to see a notation about an inmate being a suicide risk, flight risk, or other special conditions.  

The purpose of this website’s posts is to provide helpful information. There is in no way an intention to infer that a person or government institution has been involved in wrongdoing.

–Guest Contributor