Following another annual inspection this month, the Hockley County Jail has continued to uphold their high standards when it comes to operating the facility.
For every county jail within the state of Texas, an annual inspection of each facility and how well the county is conducting daily operations is looked at by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards. For Hockley County Sheriff Ray Scifres, the Hockley County Jail and his employees have had a spotless record since his arrival.
Since 2010, Scifres says the Hockley County has remained compliant through their annual inspections.
“There was one inspection in the summer of 2010 that was noncompliant,” said Scifres. “They had another one that fall in October of 2010. I had just been hired here in June or July of 2010 and the day I interviewed for my job the jail inspector was here.”
Scifres explained that the inspector arrives unannounced to the facility such as this recent visit.
From there, the inspector will interview inmates and staff members to look at best practices and policies. The inspector will see if everyone within the facility is abiding by the written policy and make sure understands what the written policy is comprised of. The inspector will check to see if the jail standard is passable as well.
Throughout the inspection Scifres stressed the importance of the record check as it has to be as accurate as possible.
“When the inspector does a record check for our documentation, they look at everything from how often we lay eyeballs physically on an inmate and it has to be documented,” explained Scifres. “Time frames can differ depending on an inmates housing status and where they’re located. You have to see them physically every 30 minutes or every hour.”
With a building older than 40 years, there are things that are bound to need replacing and the fire suppression system is on the list for the sheriff and the facility. Scifres explained that all equipment meant to handle a fire is inspected yearly which also includes the local fire marshal to do a walk through inspection.
“The inspection ranges from our fire extinguishers, SCBA Air Packs, air tanks being serviced yearly,” said Scifres. “When the fire marshal comes in an conducts his walk-through, he will check our systems which includes our systems and fire panel and alarm panel.”
During the last inspection of the panel in April, it was working but the panel readout was not functioning properly. “It does not affect the functionality of it, but when we run our routine test such as our generator test and fire panel test they always work,” explained Scifres. “However, the problem is that some of the parts needed to replace within the panel readout wise does not exist anymore.”
Scifres added that the commission always conducts a test by funneling smoke into the detectors to ensure the system is working properly and the overall system has shown to work properly.
“We know the fire suppression system and alarm system works but it is need of repair,” said Scifres.
During a recent Hockley County Commissioners meeting, the group voted to move forward with replacing the fire alarm system with a price tag of $86,985. Hockley County Judge Sharla Baldridge suggested to pay for the replacement with ARPA funds as the funds need to be exhausted before the end of the year.
Another replacement project for the jail has been the shower cabinets in jail. During the March 11 regular meeting, the court considered and approved awarding the bid for the request for qualifications for the design build firm for the jail renovation of jail or shower stalls.
At that time, Scifres explained that the court essentially approved the overall project allowing him to begin the information gathering process.
The jail has moved passed the phase of collecting information along with the decision about who the contractors will be. Additionally, the group had to wait for what the work bids were going to look like, what steps were going into the project and what the time frame would be.
“We are not altering the existing facility other than a 1:1 replacement on the showers themselves,” explained Scifres. “Over time you will have some drainage issues and you will have issues with the moisture. We’re not carrying anything out like a construction project. This project is a plumbing repair. As they get into these showers and they start removing the cabinet, what we’re looking at is when that comes out you have a gap between the floor and the base of the shower.”
Scifres and contractor personnel have put together an assessment of every one of the lines in the jail. They also looked to see if there were any blockages, fail points or anything needing to be repaired or replaced within those physical lines.
“We have been working to map it out and decide which section to start in,” said Scifres. “One section of the jail will depopulate for a certain number days while the repairs are being done and then we’re going to basically be rotating inmates around through the back of the of the multi-occupancy housing areas and in the hallway cells.”
Given the green light from the county commissioners, they still cannot move forward with the repair project until they receive the final green light from the Texas Commission on Jail Standards. He explained that the jail commission must sign off on the detailed outline of the phasing plan.
“One particular stage could take a couple of weeks in one part of the jail and this other stage could take a couple of weeks or more. Getting a phasing plan is key to ensure that what we are doing in one portion of the jail will not affect the entirety of the jail,” explained Scifres. “If we are working in one isolated area of the building where there’s no inmates, we need the water to flow in different sections so we can still operate our kitchen or change out rooms in the front.”
The shower cabinets have been ordered and the first phase it to begin replacing a shower located in an isolated part of the jail to get a better understanding of how long it will take to tear out the old cabinet and what the plumbing looks like.
Scifres explained that will provide a better grasp of what the work ahead will look like for cabinets that see more traffic in populated areas. A caveat to this plan is the plumbing may be worse as contractors move toward the more used cabinets because the plumbing may be worse off and require replacements which would extend the timeline of completing in that area.
“The big question is what it will take to get these showers cut out because these cabinets have been placed into the walls to ensure they are going nowhere,” explained Scifres. “Whatever we cut out we have to replace.”
Another thing to consider for Scifres is the movements of the contractors ensuring they isolated from inmates and viceversa,” explained Scifres.
Once the bigger areas are addressed, the jail will need to be de-populated in those specific areas which Scifres has been in contact with out of county facilities to have beds open for this reason.
“We have already talked to other jails we contact with that this has been a project that has been coming,” said Scifres. “Once we start we cannot stop which is why we have those assurances that beds will be available because we want this done as quick as possible.”
The goal for Scifres is to have the project completed by the end of the year and ensure this project will not be redone in the future for a long time.