“'Imagine schools, nursing homes, banks, mines, all of these entities that have some kind of responsibility for either the care of people inside or the safety of our communities — they all get oversight,' Deitch said. 'And, if they didn’t have oversight, we’d be appalled. So why don’t we think about prisons in this context?'”

"Deitch said the state needs to invest in jails to make sure they have 'the capacity to implement' the new standards."

"The Palmetto State's weak regulation of local jails isn't unique" said PJIL Director Michele Deitch

"'When the [government] incarcerates someone, it takes on the obligation to meet all of their needs, whether those are feeding them, housing them, or providing medical services,' Deitch said. “Because people who are incarcerated can’t do that for themselves.”

“'A lot of jails, when they realize that someone is dying or is very badly injured, they sometimes release them to a hospital or release them to the family or lower their bond to zero so they can get out and that way, technically, they’re not in custody at the time of their death,' said Michele Deitch, director of the University of Texas at Austin Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs’ Prison and Jail Innovation Lab."

"'Beyond the immediate physical and mental threats, extreme temperatures can also increase irritability and instances of violence in prisons,' said Michele Deitch, director of the Prison and Jail Innovation Lab at the University of Texas at Austin."

"Deitch told WyoFile that regulation of jail administration 'can be very effective.' About half of states have some form of statewide oversight of county jails, according to Deitch’s academic publications authored in 2010 and 2020."

"At least four other states have a similar system of allowing sheriffs to conduct peer-to-peer monitoring, said Michele Deitch, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin and a national expert on jail oversight. The model is one of four oversight approaches that other states have pursued to monitor their jails, according to Deitch’s research. It’s also 'my least favorite,' Deitch said."

"'Deaths in custody should be rare events, given that this is such a controlled environment,' says Michele Deitch, director of the University of Texas at Austin's Prison and Jail Innovation Lab."

“It is so rare for someone to be fired at all for this kind of behavior, let alone for that many people in an environment that is currently so understaffed.”- Michele Deitch, PJIL Director