Dallas County Jail Fails Inspection for Second Straight Year
Dallas County Jail failed to meet Texas' minimum standards for jail conditions for a second year in a row.Dallas County Jail failed to meet Texas’ minimum standards for acceptable jail conditions for the second year in a row.
First on inspectors’ violations list is that officers have not been accurately documenting the times and frequencies of check-ins on inmates on suicide watches. The jail’s standing policy requires officers to observe each inmate on suicide watch once every 15 minutes, according to the report. Officers’ logged observations and their actual observations as recorded by surveillance cameras in the suicide watch wing didn't match up, inspectors said.
Inspectors came to Dallas on Feb. 14, more than three weeks ago. That week began like any other annual inspection, according to jailers: Inspectors walked through each of the jail’s towers, interviewing staff and inmates and reviewing staff records of incidents and rounds. As scheduled, the commission staff met with county commissioners on Feb. 18 to discuss their findings.
On Feb. 23, the commission announced the jail’s failing grade and delivered the inspectors’ report to Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins and Sheriff Brown. Neither county nor state officials made a public statement about the failed inspection, and the report wasn’t made public.