CORYELL COUNTY, Texas — Coryell County Judge Roger Miller told KCEN Channel 6 Monday the county will ask Federal Judge Alan Albright to dismiss the case brought against it by the family of Kelli Page, the inmate who died in her cell after a confrontation with a Coryell County jailer.
“At this point, our response is that we have addressed all the issues, the concerns in the lawsuit and we are asking the judge for dismissal,” Miller said.
The county will go before Albright on April 10 to make the request.
Miller said that the suit would not cost the county because the legal expenses are covered under its membership in the Texas Association of Counties, though it had been keeping County Attorney Brandon Belt busy.
The lawsuit claimed that the jail did not follow the jail manual’s cell extraction policy.
“Further, Coryell County, upon information and belief, chose not to sufficiently staff the jail so that compliance with the policy, as referenced above and below, would occur,” the lawsuit said.
In the answer filed by Coryell County, the response stated:
“In response to Paragraph 40 of the Complaint, Coryell denies that the Jail was not sufficiently staffed and, in fact, states that, at all times, the Jail was and is staffed in compliance with the standards required and prescribed by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards (“TCJS”). Coryell denies that the referenced manual contained all of the policies under which the Jail operated and further denies all remaining factual allegations contained in Paragraph 40 of the Complaint.”
Miller said that he couldn’t confirm the jail was staffed correctly, but he had faith in Sheriff Scott Williams.
“To the best of my knowledge, the sheriff has an appropriately staffed jail, and if he does not, I’m sure he will address it with the commissioners court,” Miller said.
Miller also could not comment on jail policy, since that policy is set by Williams and not the commissioners court. The Texas Commision on Jail Standards does not list the Coryell County Jail on its list of non-compliant jails in Texas, indicating that it is currently following state policy.
When KCEN Channel 6 reporter Andrew Moore asked Williams about the situation, Williams refused to comment.
Miller also confirmed that the Page family could have sued the Coryell County Sheriff’s Office but chose to bring a suit against the county as a whole.
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