Eddie Garcia was a Nueces County Jail inmate in Corpus Christi, Texas, when he took his own life in June of this year. He strangled himself to death using jail linens.

The Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) requires increased supervision of inmates who are potentially suicidal. The following is information on the requirement for Texas county jails.

RULE §275.1      Regular Observation by Jailers

• All county jails must have the appropriate number of jailers at the facility every hour of each day. Supervision of inmates includes face-to-face observations every 60 minutes in the general population and every 30 minutes for potentially suicidal or otherwise high-risk prisoners. The jails all had a recent deadline of August 31, 2020, in which to install cameras or electronic sensors that are able to record the required personal observations of prisoners in cells or groups of cells that house high-risk prisoners.

During jail inspections, which occur annually in county facilities, TCJS inspectors often find that inmate supervision is not occurring as required. The following rule is related to inmates in restraints.

RULE §273.6 – Restraints

Every 15 minutes, inmates being held in restraints must be observed face-to-face to ensure that blood circulation has not been cut off from extremities.

• In a Jail Inspection Report dated June 7, 2021, it is indicated that jailers at a Texas county jail failed to conduct the required quarter-hour observations in April 2021 on two separate occasions.

Learn more in Part 1 and Part 2 of this 3-part series.

Posts on this website are provided as potentially helpful resources for inmates who are or have been incarcerated in a county jail in Texas. There is no intention to suggest that people or entities have engaged in improprieties.

–Guest Contributor