Article 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 on-site inspections, and gives training and technical assistance to the sheriff’s personnel.
Most but not all counties in Texas have a county jail. As of 2020, there were 220 county jails in the state.
Structure
TCJS is governed by a nine-member board appointed by the governor to staggered six-year terms.
The agency employed 22 full-time staff in fiscal year 2019. Most employees worked at the agency’s Austin headquarters, while a handful of employees traveled across the state performing inspections and training.
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.
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.
