Editorial: Dallas County Jail needs outside help

 

03:48 PM CDT on Thursday, April 2, 2009

 

 

Look at it this way: If the Dallas County Jail were a public school, the state could have shut it down.

A year ago.

That's how breathtaking it is for our jail system to fail to meet minimum state standards for a seventh consecutive inspection over six years. We're not asking for The Four Seasons at Las Colinas or even the Hilton Anatole. We're talking about the lowest common denominator of basic safety for several thousand fellow North Texans who don't have a choice of accommodations.

But despite $172 million spent in recent years, a brand-new jail tower, 400 new guard positions and countless man-and-woman hours devoted to this single task, Dallas County continues to stalk Joe DiMaggio for the record streak that could never be broken.

Sheriff Lupe Valdez won re-election in November while campaigning as if a successful inspection were a foregone conclusion. In five years, her jails are now 0-for-6 with the state. The problems vary from year to year, but fire safety is a constant.

Adan Munoz, executive director of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, is mostly sympathetic. A former county sheriff himself, he knows that running a jail is a big job. And even he is left shaking his head at another Dallas County failure.

"I certainly don't want something tragic to happen and this agency get blamed for not doing enough," he said.

Munoz actually has an idea that he believes could help. He has requested funding from the Legislature to hire what he calls a program specialist, a full-time consultant who would report to the state commission but spend four or five days a week in jails struggling to meet compliance standards.

Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price, who devotes 25 to 30 hours a week to the jail problems on top of his regular duties because someone has to show some leadership, would welcome the state aid enthusiastically.

So if Munoz needs a county official to testify on behalf of his request, he should call Price, who says he'd be south on Interstate 35 in a heartbeat. "Oh, absolutely," the commissioner said. "I'm there."

No guarantee another set of eyes would help, but they clearly couldn't hurt.