Dallas Morning News, June 13, 2007 DALLAS -- Dallas lawmakers helped kill a bill last month that would have required the county to pay for independent jail monitors, saying it would be too costly and could cause problems. What they didn't say was that Dallas County's jails are already being monitored by independent jail-health experts the county was forced to hire this year under an agreement with the federal government. County commissioners approved the one-year jail-health contracts for six experts in March to ensure that the county complies with a long list of jail fixes the Justice Department mandated in December after its investigation of jail conditions. With that, Dallas County joined 12 other jails and correctional facilities across the nation that have been monitored by the Justice Department since 2000 because of federal civil rights investigations. Dallas County has budgeted $100,000 to pay for the jail monitors, who are nationally recognized experts in correctional health care. The county must pay their rates of between $150 and $275 an hour as well as travel expenses. Parkland took over jail health duties from the University of Texas Medical Branch in March 2006. Since then, Parkland has instituted many changes, including cell-side medical delivery, a plan for a jail infirmary, better health screening at intake and a better system of dispensing medication.