The governing board for Texas’ jail watchdog agency on Thursday confirmed its interim executive director for the permanent position.
Ricky Armstrong, who worked as McLennan County’s jail administrator before joining the Texas Commission on Jail Standards as an assistant director in 2022, heads an agency that inspects and sets minimum standards for around 240 county lockups that mainly hold people awaiting trial. He replaces Brandon Wood, who retired on Jan. 31 after nearly 14 years on the job.
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Armstrong is stepping in amid increasing public attention on in-custody deaths, including Texans sent to await trial in out-of-state jails due overcrowding and understaffing.
In February, the state agency reported that 135 jail deaths were documented in 2025 — up from a slight dip the year before but on par with 2023’s figure. That same month, shortly after Armstrong stepped in as interim executive director, he affirmed in a public memo to all sheriffs and jail administrators that the agency will continue requiring an independent law enforcement agency to investigate all in-custody deaths.
The move followed Attorney General Ken Paxton’s opinion agreeing that the phrase “death of a prisoner in a county jail” in the state’s Government Code requires investigations of deaths that occur only in a jail. Paxton’s written opinion also said this interpretation does not limit the commission’s authority to enforce a broader rule regarding all deaths.
But the agency’s enforcement work has also been under scrutiny.
According to a state audit released last June, auditors reviewed 60 outside investigations of 2023 and 2024 in-custody deaths, finding that half of the cases were still pending and three had been open for more than two years. TCJS told auditors that it followed up quarterly with the investigating agencies but didn’t have the authority to set deadlines for them. The audit also found that the agency failed to process all complaints according to its policy and that its complaint database was marred with errors.
The commission is also undertaking more data-driven initiatives.
TCJS is collecting detailed data from jails for a report due by December on mental health — a critical topic because jails have become the biggest providers of such care in Texas. A similar process is underway to study pregnancy in jails. Both initiatives were ordered by the Legislature in 2025, and the agencysaid the results are “likely to influence policy, training, and operational standards in future years.”
The commission’s data also shows jails across Texas now hold more than 70,000 people. Its most recent annual report, released in February, says the agency expects jail populations to remain relatively stable overall but could increase in larger counties due to recent legislation limiting the availability of bail and restricting pretrial release for serious offenses.
As of April, Armstrong’s annual salary as interim executive director was nearly $102,000.