County jailers are required to make cell checks at required intervals but when staffing is shorthanded, they do not make the checks. Entries are later made into a jail log book indicating cell checks were made when they were not.

The entries were not used to conceal a crime but only after other events occurred, i.e. "uh oh, better make it look like we made the proper checks....."

Is this prosecutable under 37.10. TAMPERING WITH GOVERNMENTAL RECORD (or any other violation)? Is the false entry alone a crime? Administrative only?

TDC has filed charges on Correction Officers for this very situation. You might check with them. I know a case that occured in Jefferson County and was prosecuted by a TDC attorney.

We dealt with a similar case from DSHS with staff at a State Supported Living Center doing the same thing with their regular checks. One of the residents sustained unexplained injuries that would have been discovered had the checks been done and initials not just forged after the fact.

Is there a specific regulation requiring these records to be kept, or is it local policy?