Inquiry will look at the procedures involving prisoners
Corpus Christi Caller-Times
CORPUS CHRISTI, Tex. — Two flooded Nueces County courtrooms and an attempted suicide within the past month will result in a state investigation into prisoner supervision, and whether holding cells meet state standards.
An inspector from the Texas Commission on Jail Standards will be in Corpus Christi Monday evaluating 10 cells adjacent to Nueces County courtrooms.
In May, a prisoner in one of the cells plugged up a sink, flooding District Judges J. Manuel Bañales’ and Nanette Hasette’s courtrooms.
News reports of that incident drew the jail commission’s attention, according to the agency’s assistant director Brandon Woods.
Another incident earlier this week, in which a woman in the custody of District Judge Marisela Saldaña’s court on the ninth floor tried to hang herself in one of the holding cells, hastened the agency’s investigation.
Sheriff’s deputies bring prisoners from the jail to the courthouse, where deputies sign over custody to court bailiffs who are hired by individual judges. Bailiffs hold prisoners in the cells while they are waiting for hearings and as they wait to be taken back to jail.
Because the Texas Commission on Jail Standards does not have clear jurisdiction over the judiciary and its bailiffs, the agency is seeking an opinion from the Texas Attorney General on whether it can mandate safety and supervisory standards in the holding cells, as well as training for bailiffs.
An opinion from the attorney general could take as long as 180 days, attorney general’s spokesman Tom Kelley said Friday.
County Attorney Laura Garza Jimenez has told county commissioners and Sheriff Jim Kaelin that the holding cells fall under sheriff’s department jurisdiction, making them subject to state jail standards, County Judge Loyd Neal said.
The jail inspector will look Monday at procedures for monitoring prisoners in the courthouse cells and on their way to and from the jail. The inspector also will inspect each of the cells, Wood said.
“They will gather information, measure, the whole nine yards,” he said.
That information will go to jail standards director Adan Muñoz.
If the cells don’t meet standards, Muñoz has the authority to order that prisoners cannot be held there.
“If that happens we will have to come up with a plan and it will be up to the bailiff to decide where to hold that person,” Kaelin said. “If they need them for trial I will maintain them at the jail until the judge asks for them. Then they can keep them in a number of places including the courtroom.”
If the attorney general determines that the state jail commission has authority over the judiciary, judges will explore putting bailiffs under the sheriff’s supervision, an idea that has been talked about in the past, District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos said.
Kaelin said such a move would ensure uniform training and qualifications which are lacking now because the judges hire their own bailiffs. Some are certified as correctional officers, some as peace officers and others have no certification, Kaelin said.
Ramos, who serves as the local administrative judge, said she believes most of the bailiffs do a good job supervising their charges, but there is a constant movement of prisoners throughout the day for each court.
Copyright 2008 SCRIPPS Howard Publications