FALLS COUNTY, Texas — Editor's Note: The attached video aired on Feb. 19.
A notice was issued on March 11 by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards for the Falls County Jail.
The four-page document outlines 14 issues that were noted within the jail, ranging from repairs not being completed on life safety equipment to annual inspections of water and sewage systems being two years overdue.
A list of issues noted within the notice of non-compliance include:
- Staff failing to receive life safety training no less than every four months in 2023
- Life safety equipment not having repairs completed multiple weeks after it had been red-tagged
- The veteran status of prisoners not being verified through the Veterans Reentry Search Service since May 30, 2022
- Audits laid out in the Falls County operational plan for Classification not being conducted for eight months in 2023
- Administration being unable to provide records of mental disability and suicide training for staff
- It was also noted that there was no record of training located within TCOLE (Texas Commission On Law Enforcement) records on TCLEDDS (Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Data Distribution System)
- A review of a custodial death revealing that the magistrate wasn't notified within 12 hours in accordance with a Code of Criminal Procedure article
- This was found in 3 of 10 files during the Comprehensive Inspection "when warranted by positive responses on the screening form or positive returns on CCSs (Continuity Care Queries)."
- Checks not being conducted on inmates brought into the jail to determine if the inmate has received state mental healthcare or has a known disability, whether developmental or intellectual
- Routine face-to-face checks not being conducted by jail staff on time for inmates that require 60-minute and 30-minute checks
- The late range of inmates that required 60-minute checks was from one minute to 59 minutes, while jail staff were late on inmates that required 30-minute checks in some instances up to an hour and 17 minutes after the check was due
- A staff member continuing to work at the facility following the expiration of their TCOLE Jailers License
- Four staff members not being registered for a basic licensing course on or before the 90th day following them being appointed as a temporary jailer
- Staffing levels at the jail being inadequate
- Records from December 2023 to February 2024 showed staffing levels exceeded the one jailer to 48 inmate ratio roughly 10% of the time, with one instance showing a staffing level of one jailer to 58 inmates
- Water and sewage systems being overdue for inspection by 24 months
- It was noted in the notice that the annual inspection of the facility by health authorities was last done on March 3, 2022
- Many staff members not having a valid food manager/food handlers certificate
- In the eight that were provided during the review, only one was found to have not been expired, with the seven that were expired noted to have been expired for over a year
- Additionally, none of the staff members present on the day of inspection had a valid food manager/food handlers certificate
- Inmates not being given at least one hour of supervised physical exercise or recreation time at least three days a week, according to documentation for January and February 2024.
We have reached out to the Falls County Sheriff's Office for a comment on the notice, but have not received a response as of publish time.
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