Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-0692 Page: 1 of 3
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ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
GREG ABBOTT
January 22, 2009
Mr. Adan Mufioz, Jr. Opinion No. GA-0692
Executive Director
Texas Commission on Jail Standards Re: Observation of county jail inmates while they are
Post Office Box 12985 confined in courthouse holding cells (RQ-0722-GA)
Austin, Texas 78711
Dear Mr. Mufioz:
On behalf of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards (the "Commission"), you ask whether
a bailiff may supervise county jail inmates while they are held in courthouse holding cells or,
assuming that the bailiff is not a jailer, whether a sheriff must provide a licensed jailer to supervise
a county jail inmate being held in a courthouse holding cell.1 You also ask "[a]t what point during
an inmate's time at a courthouse . . . the judge, and thus the bailiff, relinquish[es] supervisory
authority to the sheriff and Minimum Jail Standards[.]" Request Letter at 1. Finally, you ask
whether a form signed by a bailiff "upon taking control of an inmate" that accepts "responsibility
for the inmate's custody, health, and general welfare" sufficiently authorizes a bailiff who does not
have a jailer's license "to supervise a courthouse holding cell[.]" Id.
You indicate that no counties require bailiffs to be licensed jailers.2 See id. You suggest that
observation of inmates in courthouse holding cells by bailiffs who are not licensed jailers may be
inconsistent with minimum jail standards adopted by the Commission under Government Code
section 511.009. See id.
Government Code section 511.009 expressly directs the Commission to adopt reasonable
minimum standards relating to, among other things, the "custody, care, and treatment of prisoners"
and the "number of jail supervisory personnel." TEX. GOV'T CODE ANN. 511.009(a)(2)-(3)
(Vernon Supp. 2008). The Commission also has express authority to enforce its rules. See id.
511.014(a) (Vernon 2004). Moreover, as Attorney General Opinion MW-559 determines,
Commission-adopted minimum jail standards apply to the observation of an inmate confined in a
'See Request Letter, available at www.texasattorneygeneral.gov.
2We assume you ask about bailiffs at the trial court level. Cf TEX. GOV'T CODE ANN. 53.091(a), (c) (Vernon
2005) (authorizing Texas appellate courts to employ individuals "to protect the court"; the bailiffs must be licensed as
peace officers).
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Texas. Attorney-General's Office. Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-0692, text, January 22, 2009; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth275588/m1/1/?q=%222009%22: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.