Edgar Villatoro-Alvarez died at the age of 40 years old on February 25, 2022, in the custody of the Tarrant County Jail. The address of the jail is 100 N. Lamar Street, Fort Worth, TX 76196. The custodial death report filed by the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Department on March 15, 2022, indicates that the cause of death is unknown and pending autopsy results.

Per the custodial death reports (CDRs) filed so far with the Attorney General of Texas, it appears that 11 inmates died in Texas county jails in February 2022 alone. Six of those deaths were suicides and the causes of the remaining five deaths are unknown, per the information included in the CDRs.

Experts in custodial suicides say that the vast majority of inmate suicides are preventable deaths. The Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) determines the minimum jail standards that guide operational procedures in county jails. Inmates are supposed to receive necessary medical care. Suicide is prevalent in jails, and jailers are required to have annual training on suicide prevention.

Preventing suicide is achieved most successfully in environments where supervision is heightened. For this reason, potentially suicidal inmates are placed in areas of county jails where face-to-face observations occur every 30 minutes as opposed to every 60 minutes, which is the requirement among the general population of inmates.

Learn more in this continuing series.

Making inferences that persons or entities have engaged in misdeeds is never intended on this website. Helping inmates now or previously detained in a Texas county jail is the purpose of posts on this site.

–Guest Contributor