Table of Contents
Overview
The Texas Commission on Jail Standards is a regulatory agency responsible for monitoring compliance with state laws and rules at county jails and privately operated municipal jails.
County jails in Texas are run by sheriffs. The Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) establishes minimum standards for the jails, enforces compliance through inspections, and gives training and technical assistance to sheriff’s personnel, including licensed jailers.
Most but not all counties in Texas have a county jail or more than one jail facility. As of 2024, 20 of the state’s 254 counties did not operate a jail, but contracted with neighboring counties instead.
Structure
TCJS is governed by a nine-member board appointed by the governor to staggered six-year terms.
The agency employed 27 full-time staff in 2024. More than half of the agency’s staff are jail inspectors, while others are responsible for reviewing jail construction and design, performing management consulting and training for county jailers, and administration.
Jurisdiction
The Texas Commission on Jail Standards has no authority over state prisons, which house convicted felony offenders are run by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
Jails, by contrast, house mostly pre-trial defendants and misdemeanor defendants. The Texas Commission on Jail Standards has oversight only of county and city jails, not state prisons.
Jail Standards in Texas
Jail standards in Texas are set by statute and by regulations created by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards and codified in the Texas Administrative Code.
These standards include:
- Jail cells for one person only must have a clear floor area of 40 square feet or more .
- Any other housing area must have a clear floor area of 18 square feet or more per prisoner.
- Jail cells or dormitories for three or more persons must be accessible to a day room to which prisoners may be given access during the day.
- A county jail cell designed for one prisoner only must have a toilet, a combination sink and drinking fountain, a table, and a seat.
- A housing area designed for three or more prisoners must have one toilet and one combination sink and drinking fountain for every eight prisoners to be confined in the area.
- Prisoners in county jails are entitled to a bunk with a clean, comfortable mattress and enough clean blankets for the prisoner’s comfort.
- Each inmate shall be allowed one hour of supervised physical exercise or physical recreation at least three days per week.
- Inmates confined longer than ten days shall be allowed access to sunlight no less than one hour weekly.
- Food must be served three times in any 24-hour period. No more than 14 hours shall pass between meals without supplemental food being served.
It’s up to the counties that operate jails to comply with these standards, which also include a minimum jailer-to-inmate ratio, facility standards, and documentation requirements.
County jails are subject to inspections from the Texas Commission on Jail Standards to ensure compliance with the minimum state standards, though such inspections are relatively rare. Counties may also adopt standards that are more stringent than the state minimums.
Sunset Findings
According to the Texas Sunset Commission’s 2020 review of the agency, TCJS had just four field inspectors to cover 220 county jails and an inmate population of more than 63,000.
The Sunset Commission stated in a November 2020 report, “the agency’s inspection and enforcement processes do not adequately and efficiently mitigate risk in jails,” and “when the agency does find violations, its limited enforcement process does not deter prolonged or repeat noncompliance.”
In response to the Sunset report, the legislature in 2021 required commission to establish a risk-based approach to inspections and to adopt rules and policies for taking escalating actions against jails that remain out of compliance for extended or recurring periods of time.
