Jail reform

Creation of a safety study committee is a big step in addressing Texas’ jail problems.

If any good can come from the untimely death of Sandra Bland in the Waller County Jail last month, it’s the spotlight now being directed toward jails across the state, whether large urban jails such as Harris County or smaller lockups like the one in Hempstead where officials say Bland committed suicide. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and state Sen. John Whitmire are the most recent public officials taking a look at issues related to mental health, suicide among inmates and other jail concerns. The two Houston lawmakers — Patrick a Republican, Whitmire a Democrat — announced earlier this week the creation of an interim jail safety study committee that will begin work next month.

The committee’s work couldn’t be more timely. The Bland case has garnered the most attention lately — with many questions still unanswered — but inmates in Harris County and elsewhere also have committed suicide behind bars in recent months. In the last five years, in fact, 140 inmates have killed themselves while locked up in county jails.

“It’s a very small percentage and a very small number, but they are human lives, and we should do the best we can to protect those lives in those jails,” Patrick said.

Whitmire noted that jails have become de facto mental health facilities. (The Harris County Jail, in fact, is the largest mental health facility in the state.) “I want all of us to think for a moment what it would be like, what you would do if you’re taken to jail on a nonviolent charge,” the senator said. He noted that those detained might not have access to medication they desperately need, whether insulin for diabetes or drugs to keep mental illnesses in check.

Another Houston lawmaker, state Rep. Garnet Coleman, also has called for dramatic improvements in jail standards in the wake of Bland’s death. Coleman, chairman of the House County Affairs Committee, is calling for more thorough intake forms with better questions to assess mental health history.

Appearing before Coleman’s committee a few days ago, Brandon Wood, executive director of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, recommended better communication between state hospitals and county jails. He also called for a list of recommended medications for inmates who are booked without their medicine, as well as better training to help jailers recognize the signs of someone experiencing a mental health crisis.

Yet another Houston lawmaker, state Rep. Gene Wu, noted recently that approximately 61 percent of people in Texas jails are being held pre-trial, which means that a court has not found them guilty of any crime. Many others, he pointed out, sit in jail because they’re unable to pay fines and fees the court has assessed. He chided criminal courts for not using personal recognizance bonds (PR bonds) for anyone charged with a petty offense and who posed no risk of harm or flight. Bland fit that category, and yet she was held in jail for three days simply because she couldn’t make bond.

We would suggest at least one other reform: strengthen the Texas Commission on Jail Standards. The commission has only four inspectors (including one vacancy) to cover the whole state; that’s 240 county jails. The commission doesn’t regulate jails operated by cities and police departments, but those jails need systematic oversight, as well.

Michele Deitch, an attorney who teaches at UT-Austin’s LBJ School of Public Affairs, has suggested creating a new office modeled on the Independent Ombudsman for the Texas Juvenile Justice Department, created in 2007 after investigations into the mistreatment of juveniles in custody. A similar office, she told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, would meet with inmates, write reports on jail conditions and identify systemic issues.

Most of us, fortunately, have never been on the wrong side of a jail cell; Sandra Bland had never been incarcerated either. We lock up too many people in this state, but if lockup is the only alternative, we have a constitutional duty to protect them. We’re pleased that Patrick, Whitmire and their fellow lawmakers seem to have gotten that message.