The Bexar County Jail will be deemed out of compliance with state requirements in a soon-to-be released inspection report from the Texas Commission of Jail Standards, Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said on Tuesday.
Salazar said in a written statement that the commission’s executive director, Brandon Wood, informed him of the result after inspectors highlighted “areas of concern,” including inmate recreation practices and record keeping, using non-sworn employees to book and release inmates and the inmate classification system.
Officials expect the final report to be released this week.
Since the inspection, Salazar and newly promoted Deputy Chief of the Adult Detention Bureau, Avery Walker, have made some swift changes which include assigning sworn deputies to book and release inmates and replacing civilian staff that had been serving in that role. The civilian staff will be reassigned.
Jail officials sent the TCJS on Monday night proposed solutions and a plan of action regarding each of the areas of concern and said they had already begun working to correct certain practices.
The last time Bexar County Jail was not in compliance was in April 2018, after three murder suspects briefly escaped from the facility. It came back into compliance on May 4, 2018.
The latest inspection follows an internal jail audit that Salazar ordered after at least four inmates were mistakenly released or transferred in January, including a drug offender being sent to prison instead of a rehabilitation facility and a man released without a court-ordered electronic monitor.
That audit revealed 18 areas requiring improvement and appeared to highlight similar issues to the state inspection, including training certification and the jail’s outdated classification system.
Salazar said it led to significant changes in how jail releases are handled. He put in place a requirement that inmate release documents must be reviewed by two supervisory staff members and limited inmates through exiting through one door, rather than two.
Short-lived TCJS violations are not rare for jails across the state. According to the commission’s website, 23 jails in Texas are currently not in compliance with the accepted standards. Most come back into compliance within the required time frame; it is rare for a jail to be shuttered by the state.
Written by: Fares Sabawi
Courtesy of San Antonio Express-News.
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