2 Arkansas Prisoners Died in Separate Facilities Last Week, Sparking Investigations Similar to Those Conducted Following Jail Deaths in Texas
Last week, on May 24 and 25, 2018, two prisoners in Arkansas jails died, and the custodial deaths are under investigation. Charles Garza, age not disclosed, was pronounced dead at Lee County jail in Brickeys on Thursday after being discovered hanging in his locked single-occupant cell. The presumed cause is suicide. The next day at East Arkansas Regional Unit in Brickeys, detainee D’angelo Merriweather was found unresponsive in his cell at about 2:50 am. The 23-year-old was moved to the jail infirmary for emergency medical attention and was pronounced dead at 3:30 am. His cause of death is unknown. Various agencies will be investigating these deaths. In Texas, the Texas Rangers are a chief investigating agency when custodial deaths occur. In addition, the Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) conducts a special inspection of the facility where a death has occurred and seeks to determine if any minimum jail standards had been neglected at the time of the death.
Preventing jail suicides linked to mental illness has been at the forefront of prison-related legislation in Texas in the past couple of years. The death of Sandra Bland at Waller County Jail in Hempstead, Texas, on July 13, 2005, was the catalyst for new laws trying to identify at-risk prisoners at the time of intake, to provide greater protections against suicide. Bland was pulled over by a police officer for an alleged minor traffic infraction. Dashcam video was captured, and it was released and went viral soon after the incident occurred. The video showed a verbal confrontation between the officer and Bland, who refused to cooperate with directives given, such as putting out her cigarette. An off-camera scuffle later occurred, and Bland was arrested. She had traveled from Chicago, Illinois, to Texas for a job. Her family says they were trying to pull her bail money together. She was found hanging in her jail cell three days after her arrest, however. She died of suicide, according to the Harris County, Texas, Institute of Forensic Sciences, located in Houston. Her death sparked nationwide protests against racial targeting by police.
TCJS cited Waller County Jail in a special jail inspection report following Bland’s death, saying the face-to-face inmate checks had not been conducted as required and that jailers had insufficient training.
As with every post on this website, we are only providing information in this post and do not make any allegation or assertion that anyone acted inappropriately or engaged in misconduct.
–Guest Contributor
smchugh
smchugh