The Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) is a regulatory agency that develops and certifies state jails throughout the state of Texas. This includes municipally run as well as private jails. While TCJS posts a report on COVID-19, it lacks significant clarity as to what the report actually is conveying. For example, the report states the “number of inmates with active positive test confirmation” but there is no context as to what that number means and leaving a lot of potential interpretation by the reader. The report also only provides testing information for employees and neglects to post employee deaths. Additionally, this report combines all jails within each county into a single daily report and only provides the most recent report. There is no apparent ability to retrieve past reports or to receive them in an Excel-type format to compile statistics.
The following table provides a snapshot of available information from sources such as county websites and news articles. This information is generally accurate as of September 28, 2020. The Positivity rate is calculated if the number of tests conducted was disclosed. Otherwise the positivity rate is not determined. The death rate is based on the number of deaths for those that tested positive for COVID-19.
| Type of Facility | Infection | Death | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | Positivity Rate | Number | Death Rate of Positive Cases | ||
| State Jails | Inmate | 21,639 | 10.7% | 1551 | >0.1% |
| Employee | 4,688 | 0.1% | 20 | >0.1% | |
| Harris County/ City of Houston4 | Inmate | 94 | Not determined | 4 | Not determined |
| Employee | 44 | Not determined | =<1 | Not determined | |
| El Paso County | Inmate | 20 | >1%2 | 13 | >0.1% |
| Employee | 4 | >0.1%2 | 0 | 0% | |
| Brownsville/ Cameron County5 | Inmate | 2 | Not determined | 1 | Not determined |
| Employee | 2 | Not determined | Not disclosed | Not determined | |
| Corpus | Inmate | 97 (July) | Not | 1 (July) | Not |
| Christi/ Nueces County | determined | determined | |||
| Employee | 50 (July) | Not determined | Not disclosed | Not determined | |
| Dallas (Dallas Co | Inmate | Not disclosed | Not determined | Not disclosed | Not determined |
| Employee | Not disclosed | Not determined | Not disclosed | Not determined | |
| Fort Worth (Tarrant Co) | Inmate | Not disclosed | Not determined | Not disclosed | Not determined |
| Employee | Not disclosed | Not determined | Not disclosed | Not determined | |
| Jefferson County | Inmate | Not disclosed | Not determined | Not disclosed | Not determined |
| Employee | 1+ | Not determined | 1 | Not determined | |
| Travis Co/ Austin | Inmate | Not disclosed | Not determined | Not disclosed | Not determined |
| Employee | Not disclosed | Not determined | Not disclosed | Not determined | |
| Potter County (Amarillo) | Inmate | Not disclosed | Not determined | Not disclosed | Not determined |
| Employee | Not disclosed | Not determined | Not disclosed | Not determined | |
| Wichita Falls/ Wichita County | Inmate | Not disclosed | Not determined | Not disclosed | Not determined |
| Employee | Not disclosed | Not determined | Not disclosed | Not determined | |
References
1Based on September 22, 2020 JDCJ Dashboard for Confirmed and Presumed COVID deaths but excludes pending.
2As of August 31, 2020 (KFOX 14)
3As of August 4, 2020 (KVIA) with supporting information from (TCJS, 2020).
4Reported to TCJS on September 27, 2020 (TCJS, 2020).
5Reported to TCJS on September 27, 2020 (TCJS, 2020) for Cameron County. Brownsville is included in the report.
TCJS. (2020, September 27). COVID Report September 27, 2020. Retrieved September 28, 2020 from https://www.tcjs.state.tx.us/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/TCJS_COVID_Report.pdf
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