Jail Commission Commends "Major Progress"

January 18, 2008

DALLAS — Sheriff Lupe Valdez and the Dallas County Commissioner's Court held a special meeting on Friday, January 18, 2008, to review the findings of a surprise, week long inspection of the Dallas County Jails which was conducted by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards.

The meeting was started with the reading of a letter, written by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards Director, Adan Munoz Jr. Mr. Munoz, which stated, "After having received a briefing by Assistant Director Shannon Herklotz Thursday afternoon, I feel compelled to address you and the Dallas County Commissioner's Court in writing. There is no doubt that the Dallas County Jail has made major progress in it's efforts to attain compliance."

Assistant Director Herklotz added to the praise."In my ten years of inspecting the Dallas County Jails, this is the cleanest and best staffed that I have ever seen it. I have never seen this level of commitment, towards coming into compliance, by any other jail system before. You are definitely on the right road," said Mr. Herklotz.

Overall, inspectors noted only nine items which needed minor improvements. All but one item were in areas over which Sheriff Lupe Valdez has no control over such as maintenance, fire and medical issues.

"The Dallas Sheriff's Department and the Texas Commission on Jail Standards intend to suggest that these sections responsible for the minor deficiencies be moved under the control of the Dallas Sheriff's Department to ensure that the deficiencies are corrected in a timely and efficient manor," said Sheriff Lupe Valdez.

This year's inspection represents major progress over last year's report, which identified many areas of concern. Over the past three years, Sheriff Valdez has worked closely with Commissioner John Wiley Price, the County Probation office, prosecutors and judges to address problems that she inherited in the Dallas County Jail system. The efforts of the Department and County government to turn around this longstanding situation have been unprecedented.

Presently, the installation of a new smoke evacuation system, which would address the major problem areas in this year's report, is under way. Work is expected to be completed in 2008 at installing the new system, which removes smoke from cellblocks in the event of a fire. This upgrade has been requested by the Sheriff's Department for years, and was approved by the Commissioners Court in October.

"As this report confirms, once the smoke evacuation system is in place, and County maintenance has had the opportunity to address our outstanding maintenance issues, the Dallas County Jail will be ready to pass inspection," said Sheriff Lupe Valdez.

"I am proud of the progress my team has made. When the Jail first begain failing inspections, no one thought we could turn around this situation so quickly. Because of the hard work of my officers and other County government agencies, we're firmly on course towards Jail certification," added the Sheriff.

This article is based on a press release initially distributed by the Dallas County Sheriff's Department.

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