Texas jail shut after cops discover recliners in cells, rooms that lock from inside, rack of nails

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Jail shut after cops discover recliners in cells
Texas site also had rooms that lock from inside, rack made of nails

updated 46 minutes ago

FORT WORTH, Texas - A jail has been closed and its nearly 60 inmates transferred as authorities investigate what they call dangerous conditions for jailers and those behind bars — including cells that locked from the inside or contained recliners.

Five inmates had already been moved from the Montague County jail to one in a nearby county this month after an FBI raid, said Jack McGaughey, district attorney for Montague, Clay and Archer counties.

McGaughey declined to say what prompted the investigation, also being conducted by the Texas Rangers. But he said authorities found contraband in the jail. New Sheriff Paul Cunningham moved the inmates to the Wise County jail on Thursday a few hours after he was sworn in.

McGaughey said some surveillance cameras' cords had been disconnected; recliners were in cells; some bathrooms and cells could be locked from the inside; and inmates had made partitions out of paper towels to block jailers' views inside their cells. One alarming discovery was a type of rack made of nails, he said.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28475274/

[book_worm]

1. my favorite jail is the one in Mayberry, North Carolina

with tables with lamps and homemade doilies and a nice comfortable chairs to sit in. And pictures on the walls. A sweet old lady named Aunt Bee would come by every day with delicious food at breakfast, lunch and dinner. Potato Salad, ham, just the best food. The town drunk could come and let himself in every Friday and Saturday night. There was also this high strung deputy who would ocassionally get himself locked into the cell.

[mwb970]

8. Those were the days!

[donco6]

11. First thing I thought of. n/t

[aquart]

2. Who carried the recliners in?

[Ghost in the Machine]

3. This is why they need the cavity searches...

It's those 'work release' & 'trustee' inmates smuggling them in in their butt cracks I tell ya!

Those poor innocent jailers/guards were duped.. DUPED, I say!



<insert sarcasm smiley here> (as if I needed it)

[Ken Burch]

5. Actually, the cavity searches are just an employee benefit

It's a contractual thing, in exchange for not getting a raise one time.

:sarcasm:

(icon added in case I ever end up doing time.)

[Ken Burch]

4. Nobody's asked yet, so I will...

Why are RECLINERS dangerous?

I can see some good ol' boys thinking that comfortable chairs make life too easy for the prisoners, but saying that they're DANGEROUS?

[aquart]

6. You can hide things in them. Like every remote in the house.

You've never searched a recliner for a reasonably large handheld device? You can lose an arsenal in one of those things.

[Ken Burch]

21. Ok. I see your point.

I'd never even heard of recliners in cells before this, so that hadn't occurred to me.

Thanks for the response.

[thrift_store_angel]

7. Recliners are made of all sorts of things...

Metal springs that can be sharpened, wood that probably wouldn't feel good if you got smacked upside the head with it...you can make a weapon out of almost anything. You could make lots of weapons out of recliners.

[Ken Burch]

15. I hadn't thought of that.

Then again, to my knowledge, the question of recliners in prison hasn't ever come up before, so I do have an excuse.

Thanks for the information.

[SoCalDem]

10. They are a symptom of a poorly run lock-up

who's in charge anyway?? locks on the INSIDE:rofl:

[ellisonz]

9. Corrupt Motherfuckers.

[Selatius]

12. That jail is about as close to Club Fed that most ordinary people who aren't white collar crooks get

I'm not condoning the corruption, but it's just a side commentary I wanted to inject in there.

[salguine]

13. Why do I suspect that jail is run by Halliburton?

[Historic NY]

14. Inmates running the asylum..I'd bet they don't pay much for the help there..

appears even the basic minimum standards of security are not even in place.

[TahitiNut]

16. Well, you get "Maximum Security" when the inmates don't want to leave.

:dunce:

[NutmegYankee]

17. Most of it is of concern, but cells that can lock from the inside?

I figure thirst or starvation will get you to unlock that door sometime.

[Ghost in the Machine]

18. No, the point is that inmates can take other inmates, or a guard, into the locked room..

and beat or kill them before anyone can get the door open... that makes it a dangerous situation for inmates and guards...

[NutmegYankee]

19. Ahh - Good point. n/t

[jmowreader]

20. I can think of a few reasons you'd want a lock on the inside of your cell door

If you wanted to kill someone...

or have some conjugal relations with your cellmate...

or were tending your pruno, or doing a drug deal...

you would want to be able to lock the guards out of your cell.

[SidDithers]

22. "WTF? You got recliners?"...

Sid

[Ichingcarpenter]

23. I was hoping this was tied to the Cheney/Gonzales indictment on prisons

and the Vangard group in Texas.

Unfortunately I haven't found a link so far.
http://www.texasobserver.org/article.php?aid=2320

[L0oniX]

24. Good ol Rooms To Go helping the jails out.

:evilgrin: