Texas Jail Project

RIP Amy Lynn Cowling, 1977–2010

admin — Sat, 12 May 2012 16:11:32 +0000

From Family and Friends—
From Amy’s mother, Vicki: “Her favorite flower was tropicana roses. She loved cats alot and she loved family memoriablia—always holding onto anything to do with the family. She had a thing with goodie bracelets and bows in her hair always.
Her favorite drink was Dr. Pepper as her father worked at the Dr. Pepper plant that was in Mt. Pleasant and Mt. Vernon for like 25 years, until he passed away in 2005.
Her favorite color was purple, and one year she decorated a Christmas tree all in purple. That is why at her funeral last month, we did a purple Christmas tree—since she missed this Christmas and died right afterwards.”

Aunt Vivian: “From the time Amy was born, she was a happy outgoing person. She was full of love and loved by all. We will miss her smile, her hugs and her love. Amy was taken much too early and without just cause. I want everyone to know she was a special niece, sister, mother, grandmother, granddaughter and daughter. We will miss her.
May God be with all of those who are responsible for taking her from us. Justice is mine said the Lord! We Love you, AMY….”

Aunt Lisa: “Amy was so full of love for her kids and her family. She was so funny because she wore her hair different everyday to put smiles on everyone’s faces.”

Aunt Tina Kay: “Amy liked strawberry milk when she was a baby and we were over at Ray and Vicki’s house one day, and Vicki was trying to get her to drink something else and Amy was throwing a fit to get her strawberry milk. She was standing up in the baby bed, hitting the walls and shaking the baby bed and screaming that she wanted her ‘trawberry milk over and over again.
After Amy grew up, her favorite snack was waffles and peanut butter.”

Summer Kay, cousin: “When I spent the weekend over there when we were young (5 to 12 years old) we use to stay up all night watching movies and eating as much candy as possible and just laughed all night.”

Uncle Ray Taylor: “When we used to go their house when she was little, she was always primping, and she would always be trying to get her brother Joey in trouble, too.”

FOR THOSE WANTING TO READ THE NEWS STORIES ABOUT AMY LYNN’S DEATH IN THE GREGG COUNTY JAIL: check out stories under the Gregg County listings like NewsOnAmyCowlingDeath

Why Did George Koomson Die in Dallas County Jail?

admin — Thu, 03 May 2012 23:30:43 +0000

by Kevin Krause, May 2, 2012 Dallas Morning News

Another Dallas County jail inmate has died after fighting with jail officers, resulting in a federal lawsuit filed against the county on Tuesday.

At issue is the question of whether restraint by the jail officers caused or contributed to the Nov. 10, 2011 death of George Barnes Koomson.

Similar circumstances surround two other jail deaths that are still in litigation.

Mary Koomson, his wife, and Samuel Koomson, his father, sued not only the county but also unknown jail officers and Parkland Memorial Hospital, which provides jail medical services and where the inmate was pronounced dead.

Their suit says Koomson, 44, who was born in Ghana, was arrested by Dallas police on Oct. 31 on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

On Nov. 3, he stopped breathing and was taken to Parkland where he was put on artificial life support, the suit said. He remained in a comatose state until his death a week later.

His wife and father say in the suit that they have been “kept in the dark” about what happened between his arrest and his death. And they said the county has “thwarted” their attempts to get relevant information.

They claim in the suit that the use of excessive force and unlawful restraint, as well as the failure to give appropriate medical care, violated George Koomson’s civil rights.

Their specific allegations are as follows:

Koomson took medication for asthma.

He suffered a seizure on Nov. 2 but wasn’t taken to the jail infirmary until the next day.

While waiting to be moved to the infirmary, he damaged a smoke alarm and a “special response team” entered his cell. He was restrained by multiple officers who handcuffed him and used leg restraints.

A sheriff’s report said Koomson was combative with officers because he didn’t want to go to the medical ward.

The suit says jail officers used excessive force to restrain him, causing him to suffer a fatal anoxic brain injury.

It says jail medical staff did not give the hospital staff information about Koomson’s seizure the previous day or the restraint techniques that were used. The suit also says Koomson’s jail medical records do not show that any treatment was given for his asthma, his seizure “or any medical condition.”

The medical examiner determined that Koomson died of “probable cardiac dysrhythmia,” which is known as an irregular heartbeat or abnormal heart rhythm, along with stress from an “acute psychotic episode and subsequent restraint.”

The manner of death was listed as undetermined.

The circumstances appear similar to that of a separate federal case involving the 2008 death of inmate Corey Bailey, which appears headed for trial.

A federal judge in that case recently ruled that the officers who restrained Bailey before he died should remain defendants so a jury can decide whether or not they were responsible.

No Charges In Death of Norman Hicks, Sr.

admin — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 17:37:22 +0000

September 15, 2011 Houston Chronicle

A grand jury declined Wednesday to bring criminal charges against a detention officer who exchanged blows with an elderly man he was trying to subdue in the Harris County jail who later died, the district attorney’s office confirmed.

Prosecutors began presenting evidence to grand jurors last week in the case of Norman Ford Hicks, 72, who died in January from complications of a heart attack triggered by blunt force trauma to the head and a broken nose. His death was ruled a homicide.

The grand jury’s decision comes after months of anguish and speculation among Hicks’ children, who learned shortly before their father died that he had been in an altercation with a jailer.

“I’m still in shock. I still have no closure,” said one of Hicks’ four children, Marie Fields, after the grand jury’s decision. “I don’t feel justice has been done.”

Hicks, a Houston butcher with a history of violence related to mental problems, died in a local hospital Jan. 22 after his family removed him from life support.He was brought there from the Harris County jail on Jan. 16. A homicide investigator told the family he had been in a physical confrontation with a jail employee.

“We are tore up,” said one of Hicks’ sons, Norman Hicks Jr. “I can’t understand with the evidence in front of them they throw out the case.”

Weighing civil suit

Houston attorney Wilvin Carter, who represents the Hicks’ children, said the family plans to discuss whether to file a civil suit against Harris County.

Prosecutors said they could not comment on their presentation to grand jurors or specify the number of witnesses who gave testimony.

“Statutory regulations prohibit me from disclosing what transpired in the grand jury room. However, I can assure you that all relevant evidence was presented to the grand jury,” First Assistant District Attorney Jim Leitner said in a statement. “The members carefully and thoroughly reviewed the witness testimony and documentary evidence, including evidence presented from the Hicks family.”

Carson Joachim, general counsel for the Harris County Deputies Organization, said jailer Chris Pool gave extensive testimony Wednesday to the grand jury about his role in Hicks’ death.

“We are pleased with the decision by the grand jury,” Joachim said. “I believe Chris acted well within his training and experience from with HCSO. The loss of human life is always tragic, and unfortunately from time to time, the men and women in law enforcement are thrust into these situations and they have to make split-second decisions.”

Joachim said his client exchanged blows with the elderly Hicks after the young jailer was ordered to the inmate’s cell to subdue him during a disturbance. Hicks threw a soiled shirt over the jailer’s face, and then hit him and Pool struck back, Joachim said. ”He tossed a feces-laden shirt in Chris’ face and simultaneously struck Chris in the face, in the mouth region,” Joachim said. “Chris used his tactics that he was trained in at the academy and the jail school, and struck Mr. Hicks at that time in a defensive posture to protect himself and others behind him.”

‘Unfortunate situation’

Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia, in a statement, offered his condolences to the Hicks family and called the elderly man’s death “an unfortunate situation for all.”

“However, a complete and thorough investigation was done,” Garcia stated, added that more work has to be done to address jailing of the mentally ill.

“Now the work continues to better serve those who are suffering from mental illnesses and to get them the help they need without them having to become inmates of the Harris County jail first,” Garcia stated.

FBI Special Agent Shauna Dunlap said a review of the case will be made and forwarded to the U.S. Justice Department.

“Now that the local process has taken it course, we will complete our report and do any additional investigation if needed and then forward our report to Justice Department,” said Dunlap, a spokeswoman for the Houston FBI office. “They will review it and make a determination if any federal laws were violated.”

Grimes County Sheriff Website Provides Good Info

admin — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 16:11:44 +0000

If you are looking for answers to questions about your county jail, you may not find much on their website and many Texans report finding it very difficult to get any answers on the phone, because they never can get a real person on the line!

On the other hand, Grimes County has a helpful website that even explains how to make a complaint and exactly what information they need from you when you report a complaint. Plus information about visitation and depositing money for inmates and how to send books or other materials. This site could be a great model for other counties who wanted to really serve the needs of all citizens.

Please check their amazingly clear and complete Frequently Asked Questions page:

They even try to address common questions from frustrated relatives of inmates that really cannot be answered, e.g.

“An inmate went to court today and the Judge said he/she was going to be released, why has the jail not released them yet?
We are required to have court documents in hand prior to an inmates release on disposed of court cases. Depending on the docket size and/or the work backlog at the clerk’s office, there can be a delay in the jail receiving the required documents. Once the documents are in hand, the release process can begin if the inmate is also clear of all other charges.”

Dallas Police and the Dallas Jail: Logjam

admin — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 02:58:06 +0000

By SCOTT GOLDSTEIN and KEVIN KRAUSE, Published: 13 April 2012 10:59 PM

Ruling clears way for depositions in suit over death at Dallas jail

Dallas police officers say it can take hours for prisoners to be processed and screened for health problems at the county’s Lew Sterrett Justice Center, keeping cops off the streets for long periods at a time.

Since The Dallas Morning News began inquiring last month about the long delays, improvements have been made to streamline the process. But complaints from some officers persist, reviving a long-standing debate about medical screening processes overseen by Parkland Memorial Hospital that officers say are overly exhaustive.

“It still appears that after all these years that the major issue is with the medical line, the officers that have to wait up to or more than 45 minutes to be seen by a medical nurse from Dallas County,” said Dallas Latino Peace Officers Association President George Aranda, who queried his members about the issue this week.

“The biggest thing is waiting on the nurse,” said Black Police Association President Cletus Judge. “It’s really on the county and not the city.”

The county, city and Parkland are each conducting studies regarding wait times, and officials have been meeting privately to sort out the problems.

Officials with Dallas County and Parkland Memorial Hospital, which provides jail medical services, say they also want to cut officer wait times. But they say their primary responsibility is to make sure prisoners are properly screened for health problems so they can receive the correct treatment.

Ron Pinkston, president of the Dallas Police Association, raised concerns with local officials earlier this year. He complained then that officers were reporting hours-long waits. But things have improved significantly in recent weeks, he said.

Among the changes: Nurses have been added at times to help screen prisoners, and one nurse line is now devoted exclusively to prisoners transported in groups from other jails. That frees up the other nurses to attend to prisoners brought in by officers who need to get back on the streets.

An officer typically waits outside the nurse’s room while the prisoner is evaluated. Because the prisoner is still considered to be in police custody, the officer doesn’t usually complete the arrest report until after the prisoner is cleared by the nurse and put in a holding cell.

In an interview this week, Pinkston said officers have noticed improvements.

“They’ve made changes and officers are getting through lines much quicker than they had since three weeks ago, when they first started dealing with this,” said Pinkston, whose organization is the largest Dallas police officer union.

Failed inspections

Problems with jail health care in the past resulted in numerous failed state inspections as well as a federal civil rights investigation. A 2006 investigation found dangerous conditions at the jail that contributed to some inmate deaths. It led to a federal court order requiring many changes to the medical screening process.

That and other mandates have cost the county more than $100 million over several years. Federal oversight of the jail system, the nation’s seventh-largest, recently ended. The jail system last year passed its second state inspection in a row — after seven straight failures.

Chief Deputy Marlin Suell, the sheriff’s jail commander, said the booking process takes about 10 to 20 minutes. After that, the prisoner undergoes medical screening. But the county will not take formal custody of the prisoners until that screening for medical and mental health problems is finished, officials say.

Suell said his agency must follow strict requirements on the medical screening from the Texas Commission on Jail Standards and the U.S. Department of Justice.

“Their rule of thumb is you bring him in here and you step in these doors, you’re not leaving until I get medical clearance,” said Shannon Herklotz, an assistant director at the Texas Commission on Jail Standards. “Most of the large jails do that just because of the liability issues and these guys coming in with injuries and deformities and everything else.”

Sharon Phillips, a Parkland executive vice president over jail health, said her nurses and staff also must follow state and federal regulations.

“Abiding by these standards is critically important in early identification of individuals who require medical and mental health attention,” she said.

Phillips said Parkland, the Sheriff’s Department and Dallas police are each conducting a time study at the jail. The Dallas police study is expected to last at least a few more weeks.

“Then we will meet to share information and come up with solutions,” she said. “We’re trying to look at it very objectively.”

But nurses, officers and jail personnel apparently have known about the studies, which could be impacting their results.

Phillips said Parkland tries to pull nurses from other areas of the jail to work on prisoner screening if there is a rush.

“We never have any extra nurses, but we have areas we can pull from,” she said.

Phillips said another factor is that on peak nights, different police agencies will bring groups of prisoners into the jail, creating delays.

“Sometimes those chains arrive at the same time. Those who arrive last with their chain of inmates will have to wait a while,” she said.

Help from Parkland

Dallas Police Department leaders declined to be interviewed for this story and instead issued a written statement.

“We are working with Parkland to develop processes to reduce peak wait time for the medical screening of prisoners,” the statement said. “In 2011, the Dallas Police Department transported over 50,000 prisoners to Lew Sterrett Jail for processing. The Police Department has established a goal of 86 minutes for an officer’s total time at jail.

“The current average total time is 82.6 minutes. We are striving to reduce the time officers spend processing their prisoners so they get back to their patrol and investigative duties.”

The statement also said the average total jail time has decreased in each of the last two years and that improvements have been made to help lower that time, including in-car computers and computers at the jail for report writing.

But Pinkston said he maintains concerns about the average time and stated goal.

“That means there’s officers up there sometimes for three hours, and that’s way too long,” Pinkston said. “Officers should be out on the street way before that working to help somebody else.”

Important New US Department on Jailed Women!

admin — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 02:33:26 +0000

We are seeing the U.S. wake up to what is happening to more and more women. Here is the new National Resource Center for Justice Involved Women .

“The U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) – in partnership with the National Institute of Corrections (NIC) – established the National Resource Center on Justice-Involved Women (NRCJIW) to address the unique and complex needs of adult women involved in the criminal justice system. NIC will continue to deliver products and services to the field specific to justice-involved women, and will work closely with BJA and the Resource Center to assure a coordinated approach.

Services

To carry out its mission, the Resource Center establishes and maintains this website; conducts outreach activities in service of its mission; and develops policy briefs, tools, and other materials to fill significant resource gaps in the field. It serves as a clearinghouse for model policies and practical tools; a referral source for information, research, and subject matter experts; and a forum for discussion among experts, policymakers, and practitioners about justice-involved women. The Resource Center also provides targeted training and technical assistance to state and local criminal justice professionals, policymakers and practitioners.

Goals

The overarching goals of the NRCJIW are to:

Promote the safety of the public, justice-involved women, and the professionals who work with them;
Synthesize and disseminate evidence-based and gender-responsive research and knowledge;
Promote the implementation of innovative, evidence-based and gender-responsive approaches that build on women’s strengths and address their risks and needs;
Promote gender-informed policy and management practices that have systemic impact and improve outcomes;
Highlight critical issues confronting this population; and
Build a community of professionals to encourage the exchange of ideas and information and advance gender-informed practices nationally.

Kitchen brawl leaves Angelina county jail inmate nearly blind

admin — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 02:17:06 +0000

By Francesca Washington - Posted: Apr 10, 2012 8:03 AM CDTUpdated: Apr 12, 2012 8:09 AM CDT, KLTV

Charles Evans. Photo Source: Angelina County Jail.

LUFKIN, TX (KTRE) -A brawl at the Angelina County Jail could bring more charges against a man already in jail on forgery charges.

Last Tuesday, fists flew in the kitchen area as one trustee attacked another.

Jail officials say Demetrick Erwin hit Charles Evans in the face.

Until that point, the men had been trusted to do work both inside and outside the jail.

“Any time we have any crime that occurs in our facility, the jail staff contacts law enforcement and we send over a deputy and we treat it as any other crime,” said James Galloway, Chief Deputy.

Evans mother told us off-camera, she thinks her son could permanently lose his vision and should be released.

Charles Evans is out on bond during his hospital stay.

“Now the fact that Evans was in our care at that point in time, we take care of all the hospital bills for the family, it doesn’t change the crime he committed to get in her,” said Galloway.

Chief Deputy James Galloway says Erwin has already been charged with aggravated assault in the brawl.

“We investigate and if we can show, and we feel like we’ll be able to, that the actor committed a crime, we’ll file charges on him and he’ll be prosecuted,” said Galloway.

Evans was booked into jail March 2nd for a probation violation.

His mother says she’s talking to lawyers about suing the state for his release.

Prisoners’ Families Bill of Rights

admin — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 14:57:12 +0000

Thanks to Razor Wire Women for this posting.

A coalition of prison family members and representatives of secular and faith based organizations serving prisonfamilies from across the United States in attendance at the 2012 National Prisoner’s Family Conference affirmed the following:

The Prison Family has the right to be treated with respect and dignity by any and all representatives of the prison
system at all times.

The Prison Family has the right to expect and be assured the utmost care is established and maintained to provide
a healthy and safe living environment that promotes effective rehabilitation, reintegration and parole planning
throughout a loved one’s incarceration.

The Prison Family has the right to be treated and integrated as a positive resource in the process of rehabilitation
and reintegration preparation and parole planning of an incarcerated loved one.

The Prison Family has the right to receive consistency in the enforcement of rules; regulations and policies
affecting a loved one’s incarceration.

The Prison Family has the right to receive consistency in the enforcement of rules; regulations and/or policies
affecting visitation and/or all forms of communication with an incarcerated loved one.

The Prison Family has the right to be informed in a timely, clear, forthright and respectful manner of any changes
in rules; regulations and/or policies affecting visitation and/or communication with an incarcerated loved one.

The Prison Family has the right to be informed within 24 hours and in a compassionate manner regarding the
illness; injury and/or death of an incarcerated loved one.

The Prison Family has the right to extended visitation during the hospitalization of an incarcerated loved one.

The Prison Family has the right to be informed within 24 hours of the security status change and/or transfer of an
incarcerated loved one to a new facility.

The Prison Family has the right to be provided specific written and evidenced-based reasons for a loved one’s
security status change; clemency denial and/or parole denial.

The Prison Family has the right to have their incarcerated loved one housed within a distance from their

permanent address that provides reasonable access for visitation and/or to facilitate serving as a resource in the
rehabilitation and reintegration preparation and parole planning of their incarcerated loved one.

The Prison Family has the right to be provided the current specific name or names and direct phone numbers of
prison officials to contact for questions about their incarcerated loved one.

The term “Prison Family” is herein defined as including, but not limited to, a blood or adopted relation, spouse,
domestic partner and/or trusted friend designated by an incarcerated person upon or during a period of
confinement as one who will serve as an outside contact on his or her behalf for the relaying of any communication
regarding the medical and mental health, security status and location of the incarcerated person and/or for making
critical decisions on behalf of the incarcerated person in the event of his or her incapacitation.

For further information: http://prisonersfamilyconference.org/ and http://www.facebook.com/pages/Prisoners-Family-Conference

You Will Get a DWI Charge in Collin County, Even if You Pass The Breath Test

admin — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 15:11:34 +0000

by Jeremy F. Rosenthal, Collin County Criminal Defense Attorney in his Collin County Blog, JUNE 10, 2010

Texas Penal Code Section 49.01(2) defines intoxication as “(A) not having the normal use of mental or physical faculties by reason of the introduction of alcohol, a controlled substance, a drug, a dangerous drug, a combination of two or more of those substances, or any other substance into the body; or (B) having an alcohol concentration of 0.08 or more.”

As you can see the legislature used the word “or” between subsection (A) and (B). This means that you can be charged with DWI where the officer believes you “do not have the normal use…” regardless of whether a breath test was taken — and regardless of whether a breath test result was below 0.08.

Technical Supervisors, who are the state’s “breath test experts” at trial have training on alcohol, it’s effects on the body, and it’s effects on driving. They testify, in general, that no one has the “normal use” above 0.08 for the purposes of operating a motor vehicle and some lack the “normal use” below 0.08.

The end analysis is simple — if the officer says you’ve lost the “normal use,” then you are getting arrested for DWI regardless if you blow a 0.11 or a 0.06.

As a former Collin County Prosecutor and as a Criminal Defense Lawyer in Dallas and Collin Counties, I have yet to see or hear of anyone that got taken back to the police station for DWI, was asked to take a breath test, and wasn’t charged with DWI regardless of the result. Maybe it has happened. I’ve just never heard about it.

This is part of the lose-lose equation which is the breath test. And then the police actually wonder why people refuse the breath test all the time.

Dallas Jail Passes Inspection Again

admin — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 23:23:58 +0000

By Kevin Krause/Reporter kkrause@dallasnews.com | in the Dallas Morning News, Fri., Mar. 30, 2012

The Dallas County jail system has passed state inspection for the third year in a row, sheriff’s officials said this morning.

The jail system — the nation’s seventh largest — received its certification from the Texas Commission on Jail Standards.

The news marks a significant turnaround for the county jails, which had been under a federal order to improve inmate medical and mental health services. When the jails finally passed state inspection in 2010, it was the first time since 2003.

Recurring problems with sanitation and faulty smoke detection and removal systems had plagued the jails for years, requiring county commissioners to spend more than $100 million to make improvements.

Shannon Herklotz, the jail commission’s assistant director of inspections and jail management, called the week-long inspection “one of the most enjoyable weeks we’ve had at this facility in many years.”

“I can’t say enough how clean this place was,” Herklotz said during a debriefing with county officials. “It’s definitely a model for a lot of people to look at.”

Sheriff’s officials say the inspectors praised the jails’ life safety and maintenance equipment, and jail health services that Parkland Memorial Hospital provides. Parkland’s medical staff, officials said, administers about 8,000 daily doses of medication at the jails — more than what is given out at the hospital each day.

“Such a turnaround is a credit to all our staff,” said Sheriff Lupe Valdez. “It takes the cooperation of all of us, including our midnight staff.”

Commissioner John Wiley Price praised the county’s roughly 1,450 jail guards for keeping the jails safe and clean.