Plan Puts Guards in with Inmates

Plan Puts Guards in with Inmates
When a new south tower goes up at the Dallas County Jail next year, the interior design will be strikingly different from any other jail facility the county currently owns.

The county plans to station individual jail guards inside each "tank" of inmates to provide direct supervision of the jail population.

Currently, jail guards remain outside the tank areas where prisoners live, observing through bars from the hallways and monitoring inmate activity by way of security cameras.

The plan, which initially drew resistance from sheriff's department officials, has now been accepted.

Advocates say the direct supervision approach, a growing trend in jails across the country, improves the atmosphere in the jail, decreases assaults on jail guards and reduces construction costs.

"I was against it at first, because of having an officer in each tank with up to 62 inmates," said Deputy Chief Edgar McMillan Jr.

"But I don't see any cons.

Statistics show this approach creates more of a calming effect on the inmates because it doesn't set up a strict monitoring environment.

"We're trying to come in with the times," he said.

"All over the country, jails are going toward this approach."

The guard will sit behind a desk on a raised platform inside the tank's common area or day room, facing two levels of