Category: Texas Commission on Jail Standards

The Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) conducted an inspection of Fisher County Jail in Roby, Texas. In April 2017, details of their findings were published. TCJS investigators allege that Fisher County Jail violated three jail standards. The purpose of Texas jail standards is to ensure the safety of inmates, staff members, and others who visit the facility. The following is information about the alleged violations Fisher County Jail committed.

• Each calendar quarter, all members of the jail staff must be trained for emergency situations, including evacuation drills, emergency, and fire drills as well as location and use of equipment. According to TCJS inspectors, who reviewed life safety documentation, no jail staff had participated in quarterly life safety training during the final quarter of 2016.
• It is required that jails have all life safety equipment inspected, tested, and maintained by individuals who are qualified to do so. The purpose is to ensure that all equipment is secure, fully operative, and safe at all times. When reviewing life safety documentation, inspectors found that the Ansul Hood system was not inspected every six months, which is required by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA).
• Inspectors also claim that inmates are not getting the supervision required in the kitchen area, which facility staff is supposed to provide during food preparation and/or during the prepping and serving of trays.

As with every post on this website, we are only providing information in this post and do not make any allegation or assertion that anyone acted inappropriately or engaged in misconduct.

–Guest Contributor

Inspectors with the Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) released a Jail Re-inspection Report earlier this year that included information about four alleged violations at Sutton County Jail in Sonora, Texas. Jails have a responsibility to meet minimum jail standards. They help to ensure the safety and well-being of inmates, staff members, and visitors. Inmates frequently suffer harm and sometimes succeed in committing suicide, as a result of the failure of a jail’s employees to meet mandatory guidelines.

The following is information about two of the alleged violations of jail standards at Sutton County Jail:

Inspectors with TCJS say that medical files were reviewed, and it was discovered that an inmate had submitted a sick call that was refused by members of the jail staff on April 23, 2017. Notes indicated that the inmate allegedly refused to take medication that had been prescribed by the doctor. As a result, the request made by the inmate to see the doctor was never scheduled. The jail standards dictate that every facility must have and carry out a written plan with regard to inmate medical, dental, and mental services. The plan is to include procedures for regularly scheduled sick calls as well as a prescribed course of action for referral for medical, dental, and mental services.

Another discovery made during inspection of medical files was that the staff at Sutton County Jail was allegedly failing to follow the doctors’ orders with regard to dispensing of medication, which allegedly occurred several times. When questioned, jail staff explained that the inmate involved had been refusing the medication. They failed, however, to log the refusal. They also failed to advise the doctor that the medication was being refused.

As with every post on this website, we are only providing information in this post and do not make any allegation or assertion that anyone acted inappropriately or engaged in misconduct.

–Guest Contributor