TCSO: Corrections officer arrested for not performing visual inmate checks

A corrections officer has been arrested after he did not conduct legally-required visual checks on inmates and falsified the logs, says the Travis County Sheriff's Office.

Carlos Luna, 21, has been charged with tampering with a governmental record, a Class A misdemeanor.

According to a release from TCSO, a supervisor was reviewing surveillance footage in Building 12 at the Travis County Correctional Complex in Del Valle in June and noticed Luna did not appear to be conducting “post visual” checks on inmates at the times he had recorded in a logbook.

Internal Affairs and criminal investigations were opened and Luna was reassigned to a position that did not require inmate supervision. 

According to detectives, Luna logged 49 post visual checks during the week of June 10-16, but video evidence shows he did not perform 34 of them. Luna reportedly told detectives he had been falsifying logs for the last one to two months.

In his interview, he acknowledged the “high importance” of the checks to ensure inmates’ safety and health, says the release.

Luna has been employed with TCSO since 2017 and his case is currently under review for administrative or disciplinary action.