which was at 96% capacity.<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cWe are always, always trying to make sure that we are doing the things that we are supposed to be doing,\u201d Brown said. \u201cThis is a big wheel we turn and we are all spokes \u2026 If one spoke gets out of order then this is what happens: It can put us out of compliance, so we encourage everybody to stay on top of turning the wheel.”<\/p>\n
The failed inspection in 2018 was a narrow review prompted by the county\u2019s failure to conduct 30-minute observations for people who are suicidal, mentally ill or demonstrating bizarre behavior, according to the inspection report. <\/p>\n
The jail failed the annual inspection in 2021 for not providing indigent people with hygiene products; failing to allow some people on suicide watch to shower for two to 15 days; and not providing paper and pencils to communicate with attorneys.<\/p>\n
Brown said many of those issues were due to the jail\u2019s navigation of COVID-era protocols. At the same time, she said, the jail was a leader for video family visits and daily case reporting.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe knew we were keeping people safe,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n
In February 2022, the jail failed a state inspection when observation logs did not match video footage of suicidal people; documentation did not show fresh clothing was provided to people in crisis; and about 40 cell doors were in disrepair. <\/p>\n
Seven months later, a special inspection prompted by a death found that jailers were not conducting their rounds in line with state standards \u2013 a conclusion corroborated by video footage. <\/p>\n
Although the jail passed two inspections in 2024, findings noted the need for improvement. In January that year, inspectors found jailers failed on eight occasions to give one person his medication but inspectors concluded it was not a systemic issue.<\/p>\n
Armstrong, the commission\u2019s assistant director, said inspectors have discretion to find jails in compliance even if they note issues that need improvement, typically because those items are able to be resolved in one day or are not life-threatening.<\/p>\n
In Dallas County\u2019s July 22 inspection, Armstrong said the failure to provide the man his medication for two days in the holding cell did not count toward the noncompliance because it was an isolated incident.<\/p>\n
Krish Gundu, executive director of the Texas Jail Project, a nonprofit that advocates for incarcerated people, said even narrow inspections focused on complaints can shed light on broader problems in a jail. Not counting a problem as critical as missed medication is \u201cis like helping someone cheat in an exam,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The state only enforces minimum standards, which Gundu said should be a low bar to meet.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re deciding to cage thousands of people in a stressful environment,\u201d Gundu said. \u201cThe least we want to do is follow minimum standards.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Dallas County Jail failed a state inspection triggered by complaints about the treatment of two incarcerated people,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":148350,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5135],"tags":[5229,4219,1596,7290,50,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-148349","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-crime","10":"tag-dallas","11":"tag-dallas-county","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-texas","14":"tag-tx","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-united-states-of-america","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","19":"tag-us","20":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115033941251012501","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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