DALLAS — In a celebratory media event Friday morning, inspectors from the Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) announced Dallas County's jail passed its annual inspection and congratulated staff on "an excellent job."
The jail failed its annual inspection in 2021 and 2022. In 2023, the inspection was not conducted in person, Sheriff Marian Brown said.
"Not only does it keep us honest, but it shows to our community and to our constituents that we are taking care of people," Brown said of the inspection score. "If you stay ready, then you don’t have to get ready and that’s what we tell our people and our people have taken that on wholeheartedly. As you can see by this unannounced inspection this week, it works for us."
The state inspectors spoke glowingly of the facility's cleanliness, improvement from previous years and staff effectiveness.
"You can't hide ugly. When you want into a jail and if it's not good, you're going to see it," inspector Mike Garrett said. "And it was not ugly. It was good."
The sheriff's office said the inspection assessed the jail across several categories including:
- Sanitation
- Health Services
- Food Service
- Clothing & Personal Hygiene
- Life Safety Rules
- Intake and Release
- Education & Rehabilitation Programs
- Recreation & Exercise
- Supervision of inmates
- Records and Procedures
TCJS inspectors also announced three areas where they found deficiencies, which they said the jail would work to correct. These included issues with fire apparatus in the west tower, procedures related to the classification of inmates, and an isolated incident where jail staff couldn't provide documentation to show an inmate received doses of a medication.
"Overall, you are doing an excellent job. Please keep it up," said Inspector Michael Gravitt.
Critics, however, said the inspection does not tell the whole story.
"A glowing review really speaks to the failure of our state to properly investigate jails throughout our state," said Dustin Rynders, the legal director of the Texas Civil Rights Project.
He said the state needs to inspect jails better and more often than once a year, especially given that last year Dallas County reported more than a dozen inmate deaths in custody. "We have to remember when we're talking about people in jail, we're talking about people who most of the time have not been convicted of a crime," he said.
