Corrections Departments in Texas - Changes to Protocols Due to COVID 19

Corrections Departments in Texas – Changes to Protocols Due to COVID 19

On March 13, 2020, Governor Abbott through Executive Order GA-25, closed all State-Run correctional facilities to personal visitation, media, and attorney visits in an attempt to minimize transmission of COVID-19 into the facilities (TDCJ, 2020). For State facilities, new inmates can be transferred into state prisons after following screening protocols. To the extent possible, TDCJ is reporting release of inmates back to the community but does not detail if there is COVID 19 testing conducted prior to the release or how they are monitored in the community for COVID 19 related illness. Federally managed facilities in Texas are not discussed in this article.

While the executive order did not require counties or cities to suspend visitation, it does require counties to consult with Local Health Departments to determine what limitations should be placed on visitation (Wood, 2020). This has resulted in a variety of responses at the county and city levels ranging from no change to pre-COVID policies for visitation by family and attorneys to suspension of all in-person. The degree of outbreak in the community does not necessarily dictate the temporary COVID-19 policies within the jails. The table below provides a summary of selected county and city jails policies on visitation and how inmates are managed. While there have been some attempts to reduce jail populations, many of these were not successful in the long-term and many jails are reaching capacity again. These include a segment of the jail population who are unable to afford bail and are therefore ineligible for release prior to a court date despite being charged with low level misdemeanors. Many of these court dates are also delayed due to restricted access to municipal buildings. Adding to this, for some communities, are the third-party contractors for tracking, such as ankle monitors, requiring proof that an inmate is negative prior to providing an ankle monitor. So even if bail can be procured, an inmate may not be able to leave jail due to an unknown COVID status.

Across the state, reporting is generally at the county level, making it difficult to identify specific populations such as those in specific jails. Most jail administrators are not releasing statistics on cases of COVID with many of the news articles being related to deaths by inmates and/or employees. The level of infection within the sheriff offices is generally confirmed through changes in policing to allow for more officers to be in the jails to meet guard to inmate ratios.

In addition, the ability to get tested is inconsistent with many of the cities and counties with the highest rates of community infections and deaths reporting significant backlogs (Blackman & Harris, 2020). There was some reporting of similar issues within the county and city jails. For example, Harris County had a sudden one day jump to 26% on September 28, 2020 due to a large backlog of tests being posted. However, the current trend is actually 6.7% (HCPH, 2020), which is above the 5% recommended by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). There is little to no reporting of jail population data for COVID infections by the jails themselves and much of what is reported below is taken from newspaper and TV station news reports.

Transparency of positive cases and deaths is also inconsistent across the state for the various city and county jails even with reporting requirement to the Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS, 2020). The Commission is releasing daily count reports without explanation as to what the numbers mean, there is no trend report, or an ability to develop a trend report.

References
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Choate, T. (2020, July 28). Wichita County Sheriff David Duke: Over 20 inmates positive for COVID-19. Retrieved September 29, 2020 from Times Record News: https://www.timesrecordnews.com/story/news/local/2020/07/28/sheriff-david-duke-makes-jail-announcement-covid-19/5528638002/
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