Dallas County’s jail recently passed a week-long, surprise state inspection for the first time in years.
The annual Texas Commission on Jail Standards inspection revealed shortcomings, but overall gave a good review, including several “excellent” ratings.
Sheriff Marian Brown has led the department since 2018 and through the pandemic.
“We unfortunately have it on our record that we failed our jail inspection the two years during COVID,” she said. "But what we are proud of is that...during that same two years of failing an inspection, we kept people safe. Not just here in Dallas County, but throughout the state of Texas as a whole.”
The jail commission, after failing Dallas County, had shared with all Texas counties Dallas’s good example of precautionary COVID-19 standards.
Issues for this year’s inspection were noted in the official report released Jan. 31.
The jail's West Tower, the oldest in the compound, doesn't have overhead sprinklers or fire hoses — Dallas County's fire marshal in 2010 had allowed extinguishers instead.
The state said to replace the sprinklers or fire hoses.
Inspectors noted the extinguishers that the marshal had allowed were noncompliant. So jail administrators shared a 2023 letter from the fire marshal explaining that the state-mandated fire extinguishers would be replaced with the non-carcinogenic dry powder type.
State investigators ultimately were satisfied with an acknowledgement from fire officials affirming they can and will respond to all possible fires in the high-rise building.
Dallas County’s jail —as it’s recognized today — opened almost 60 years ago.
Lew Sterrett Justice Center, the “North Tower,” was added in 1993.
Dallas is the state’s second-largest county, behind Harris and in front of Tarrant — which both outsource inmate detention.
County Commissioner Theresa Daniel during the bi-weekly commissioners court meeting offered “sincere congratulations to so many people doing what they need to do to turn the wheel.”
“I'm very proud when I go around the state or around the country because it's noticed — the model that Dallas County makes in the way that we do business,” Daniel said.
The jail is managed by the Dallas County Sheriff's Office and provides inmates with medical and mental health care from Parkland community health system and rehabilitation and reintegration programs.
Among 40 random files reviewed during the annual inspection include an inmate not getting medication many times and a maximum custody detention mix up.
“It was determined by the inspection team that on occasion, the classification plan was not followed,” the report said. “It was determined that on a few occasions staff did not properly utilize the override procedures to ensure that a maximum custody inmate retained maximum custody level status during reassessments.”
Staff retraining was already scheduled to improve inmate classification and completion documents will be sent to the commission.
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