Infamous North Texas Jail Reopens

MONTAGUE, Texas (AP) _ The troubled Montague County Jail reopened this week after a $1 million overhaul led by the new sheriff.

The Texas Commission on Jail Standards approved the reopening — permitting 63 inmates to return from the Wise County Jail.

Sheriff Paul Cunningham told the Wichita Falls Times Record News that everything went well.

Cunningham closed the jail Jan. 1 — hours after he took over.

Authorities say some inmates had recliners, took drugs, used banned cell phones and disabled surveillance cameras.

A grand jury last month indicted ex-Sheriff Bill Keating and 16 others, including some guards, on charges ranging from official oppression to having sex with female inmates.

Keating separately pleaded guilty in January to coercing a woman into having sex with him by threatening to jail her on drug charges.

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