Waller County Sheriff: Deputy Fired For Inappropriate Behavior Adds To Troubling Jail Issues

HEMPSTEAD, TX -- Changes could be on the horizon for the Waller County Sheriff’s Office amid recent controversies involving Sheriff Glenn Smith and several Waller County Sheriff’s deputies.

On May 1, allegations arose that now former Waller County Deputy Dormic Smith took advantage of a woman he’d arrested for driving while intoxicated in March.

Dormic Smith was fired May 1, following an internal investigation.

Smith was one of several deputies who were on duty at the Waller County Jail the night Sandra Bland hanged herself in her jail cell.

This firing is merely the latest in a string of issues in Waller County’s law enforcement community that led to county commissioners to demand Glenn Smith turn in his badge.

On March 17, a male inmate who was doing trusty work sexually assaulted a female inmate.

Officials learned that the male inmate, however, did not have trusty privileges.

The case is being investigated by the Texas Rangers.

The case was also investigated by the Texas Commissioner on Jail Standards, which released a report March 21, indicating the Waller County Jail was out of compliance of state jail standards by allowing contact between male and female inmates, and allowing a medium security male inmate to roam the jail unsupervised.

The Texas Commission on Jail Standards also investigated Waller County following Bland’s death.

During the course of that investigation, a detention officer admitted to tampering with jail records indicating he’d checked Bland’s cell the morning she was found dead, when he hadn’t.

Afterward, the jail agreed to implement new safeguards, such as improving the efficiency of inmate and cell checks.

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On April 22, Chelsea Schehr was arrested after a domestic dispute.

Schehr, 24, said she was stripped naked after her arrest, and placed in a cell reserved or suicide watch inmates, with only a blanket to cover herself.

Schehr said she humiliated while she was in view of other inmates and male detention officers.

Schehr added that she was on her menstrual cycle and was denied feminine products and panties while incarcerated.

The complaint was referred to the Texas Commission on Jail Standards and is currently under investigation.

Meanwhile, elected officials who want to see reform are still waiting to see if Sheriff Glenn Smith resigns won’t see that come to fruition any time soon.

When asked to resign in March, Smith flatly refused.

Image: Shutterstock

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