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Mar 2, 2007 10:02 pm US/Central
Dallas County Jail Making Several Improvements
DALLAS (CBS 11 News) ―
Sheriff Lupe Valdez said that she didn't need the Texas Commission on Jail Standards to tell her that there were too many inmates and not enough guards. "They couldn't even do the normal work they were supposed to do because there were so many inmates they had to attend to," she said.
The commission gave the jail 90 days to meet a 1-to-48 guard-to-inmate ratio requirement, or face a shutdown. Friday was the deadline. "It was more like 1-to-100 or 1-to-150," Valdez said. "I immediately saw, that's a danger, not only to the inmates, but to my officers."
Dallas County beefed up the jail's staff by using warrant deputies, court baliffs and deputy constables. They have also released 700 non-violent offenders over the last three weeks in order to reduce the jail's population.
There are 7,400 beds at the jail. A big part of alleviating overcrowding, Valdez said, is making sure that the right people are sleeping in them. "I don't think that we should be a parking lot for the mentally ill, the indigent. We need to take these individuals where they need to be. That is not jail."
But overcrowding isn't the jail's only issue. There are also a number of code violations that have raised issues about the safety of inmates and officers.
The smoke evacuation system needs to be brought up to code. Valdez explained, "This whole area has to be cleared of smoke in a certain amount of time for the inmates to be safe."
In addition, the jail just also got the in-cell intercom system fully functioning.
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