During Ariel Nicole Henley’s entry into the Dallas County Jail in Dallas, Texas, on September 23, 2022, two standard questions were not answered with the “yes” or “no” answers the inquiries call for. Whether or not she appeared to have been intoxicated by alcohol or drugs or exhibited any medical problems are both marked as “unknown.” Her cause of death on October 5, 2022, is also unknown as well as whether she had been “receiving treatment for the medical condition that caused the death after admission” into the Dallas County Jail.

A Custodial Suicide in Dallas County Jail in 2020

The entry date and time of Salvador Rodriguez as an inmate in Dallas County Jail is marked “N/A,” though the “Date/Time of Custody or Incident” is shown as March 27, 2020—the likely entry date, since the summary of his death begins on the day of his death, which was March 29, 2020. In any case, intake procedures appear to have been incomplete. Basic yes-or-no questions about the inmate at the time of booking indicate “unknown.” This includes the question about whether he made any suicidal statements.

Although the custodial death report (CDR) is replete with details about what happened after the discovery of Mr. Rodriguez hanging in a multiple-occupancy cell, little is known, per the report, about preceding activities. He was pronounced deceased at Parkland Memorial Hospital less than an hour after inmates brought attention to jailers that Mr. Rodriguez was “trying to hang himself.”

The results of the autopsy report on Mr. Rodriguez indicate that suicide was the cause of death.

See Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4 of this ongoing series.

This website purposes to provide information of benefit to Texas inmates housed in municipal or county jails in the state. Making allegations that wrongdoing has occurred on the part of any person or entity is never intended on this site.

–Guest Contributor