A formal request under the Freedom of Information Act asks the Drug Enforcement Administration to open its files on who may prescribe and administer controlled substances inside a Texas county jail.

By LeRoy Nellis
Austin, Texas

A formal Freedom of Information Act request now asks the Drug Enforcement Administration to turn over every record it holds on controlled-substance registration, delegation, and prescribing activity inside Williamson County Jail in Georgetown, Texas. The request, filed by LeRoy Nellis of Austin, seeks to establish from federal records who was authorized to order, dispense, and administer controlled substances within a government-operated detention facility — and whether that authority complied with federal law.

The request is addressed to the DEA's FOIA/Records Management Section at 8701 Morrissette Drive in Springfield, Virginia, and invokes the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552. It identifies the facility under examination as Williamson County Jail, 306 W 4th St, Georgetown, TX 78626. In its own words, the request is based on documented concerns involving medical administration, delegation authority, and compliance with federal controlled substance laws.

The Providers Named in the Request

The request puts two physicians at the center of the inquiry. It names Dr. John Mark Janes, MD, identified by Texas License H8939, and Dr. Henry L. Higgins, MD, identified by Texas License L6232. It goes further, asking for records on any additional physicians whose DEA number is registered at, delegated to, or used by the jail or its medical contractors.

The request does not stop at doctors. It also seeks records on any APRNs, EMTs, or medical staff who were granted authority, explicitly or implicitly, to issue or administer controlled substances within the jail. That framing — explicitly or implicitly — signals that the request is concerned not only with formal authorizations on paper, but with authority that may have been exercised without a filed record.

The Records Sought

For each person and entity named, the request demands a specific set of federal documents. It asks for DEA registration applications, identified as Form-224 and renewals. It asks for the registration status of each provider, including any restrictions, suspensions, or actions. It asks for ARCOS reports reflecting controlled substance activity, and for DEA Form-222 or digital controlled substance orders.

The request also seeks suspicious activity reports or compliance flags, and all DEA investigations, notes, audits, or inquiries involving Williamson County Jail, the Williamson County Sheriff's Office, and jail medical staff or contractors. It requests all correspondence between the DEA and Williamson County personnel, and any delegation or supervisory authority filed with the DEA regarding mid-level practitioners such as APRNs and PAs.

Taken together, the requests amount to a demand for the full federal paper trail on who could touch controlled substances inside the jail, and under what authority.

The Timeframe and the Fee

The request covers the period from January 1, 2023 to the present. It asks that the DEA release electronic records to the requester's email address, and it seeks a fee waiver on the grounds that the matter concerns significant public interest related to medical care in a government-operated detention facility. The requester identifies himself as an individual requester and agrees to pay up to $25.00 in fees unless otherwise notified.

I request a fee waiver as this request concerns matters of significant public interest related to medical care in a government-operated detention facility.

A Preserved Public Record

The document is published as part of a FOIA request DEA records archive and is described as a preserved public record, presented in its original form with no modifications made to the substance of the request. It states that the current version supersedes all prior versions and that additional documentation, responses, and supporting records will be published as they are received and verified.

What the Record Shows

The record on file is a request, not an answer. What it establishes is the exact scope of the question now put to a federal agency: whether the controlled-substance authority at Williamson County Jail — held by named physicians, by any doctor whose DEA number was delegated to the facility, and by any mid-level or emergency staff who administered medications — was properly registered, supervised, and recorded under federal law from January 1, 2023 forward.

The stakes are stated plainly in the request itself: medical care in a government-operated detention facility. What the DEA's files contain, and what they reveal about who held prescribing authority inside the jail and whether that authority was ever flagged, suspended, or investigated, remains to be answered by the federal records the request now compels into the open.

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