Friday's Internet Edition, September 10, 2010.
Unexpected inspection nets more violations
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The officials were enroute to Brownsville for another jail inspection when they decided to see what was going on in the Kleberg County Jail, and they did not like what they saw.
Adan Munoz Jr, Executive Director of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, and inspectors Russell S. Biehle and James Short stopped to inspect the status of the non-compliance citations of the county jail.
“During that time four additional violations of minimum jail standards were seen,” Munoz said.
The violations are currently being written up by Biehle, according to Munoz. The report will be delivered to Sheriff Ed Mata and Kleberg County Judge Pete De La Garza out of professionally courtesy before it can be made a public record, according to Munoz.
Munoz, himself a former Kleberg County Sheriff, explained that it is normal procedure to check up on jails with non-compliance violations.
Kleberg County Jail was cited with 11 non-compliance violations of jail standards in February when two jail standard officials inspected the facility. During the two-day visit the jail violations ranged from unsanitary conditions to an overcrowded jail population.
Kleberg County jail officials recently claimed they had complied with most of the issues except for the overcrowded jail population.
De La Garza and Mata were requested to appear before the Texas Commission on Jail Standards to explain the status of the overcrowded jail population on August 2 in Austin.
De La Garza, Mata, Chief Deputy Willie Vera, Billy Woodruff, jail administrator traveled to Austin and appeared before the commissioners.
The Jail Standards commissioners ordered Kleberg County jail officials to send a count of inmates and staff each day. The accountability order would include the number of males and females that are incarcerated.