Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion: KP-0517

Summary

Texas Attorney General Opinion KP-0517 addresses whether Government Code section 511.021(a) requires an independent outside law-enforcement investigation when a county jail prisoner dies outside the jail facility, including in a hospital. The opinion concludes that the statutory requirement applies only when the death occurs inside the county jail itself, while declining to determine whether the Texas Commission on Jail Standards may independently promulgate a broader rule requiring investigation of all in-custody deaths.

Holdings

1. The phrase "death of a prisoner in a county jail" requires the Commission on Jail Standards to appoint an independent law enforcement agency when a prisoner dies in the county jail facility itself. The requirement does not extend, by virtue of section 511.021(a), to a prisoner who dies elsewhere while remaining in custody.
2. The conclusion that section 511.021(a) is limited to deaths occurring inside county jail facilities does not establish that the Commission's rule requiring independent investigation of all deaths occurring while in custody is facially invalid. The opinion does not decide the rule's validity because the rule was adopted under other asserted statutory authorities and that question was outside the request.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the phrase "death of a prisoner in a county jail" in Texas Government Code section 511.021(a) requires an independent investigation only when the prisoner dies inside the physical county jail facility.
2. Whether the statutory interpretation of section 511.021(a) determines that the Commission on Jail Standards lacks authority to promulgate a rule requiring independent investigation of prisoner deaths occurring while the prisoner remains in custody but outside the jail facility.

Disposition

other