By C1 Staff
DALLAS COUNTY — Investigation into the Dallas County Jail’s poor medical treatment of mentally ill inmates has led to a new medical facility inside the Lew Sterrett Justice Center.
The Dallas News reports that the DOJ released a scathing report about dangerous conditions inside the jail. Medical care was deemed so inadequate that inmates were at “risk of serious harm.” The jail also received failing grades from state inspectors for seven years straight.
The jail recently settled a civil rights lawsuit with James Mims, who in 2004 nearly died after not receiving his medication for two months and being deprived of water for nearly two weeks, and two other mentally ill inmates.
The county promised to make changes in how it provided mental and medical health care in an agreement with the U.S. attorney general. Construction on the medical center began in Oct. 2012 and took nearly three years to complete, even though initial plans had it complete within 18 months.
The facility cost $44 million to build and is spread across 139,657 square feet on three floors of the jail’s North Tower. It includes a medical clinic, full-service pharmacy and offices for medical staff.
It will house 137 inmates, while the mental health care floor will house 145. Both floors are expected to reduce the number of inmate transports to outside hospitals.