Mason Tyler Simon was placed in a single cell after being booked into Guadalupe County Jail in Seguin, Texas, on April 1, 2022. On the afternoon of April 4, 2022, a detention officer discovered him with a T-shirt around his neck. The T-shirt was tied to cell bars. Mr. Simon was cut down, and lifesaving measures were instigated. EMS was notified, and Mr. Simon was transported to a nearby hospital. Tragically, he died of strangulation on April 5, 2022.

Among the challenges that county jails face every day is the fact that suicide is the number one cause of death in custodial settings. Suicide prevention is helped by supervision, yet Texas jails are frequently understaffed. When finding solutions for the various struggles in county jails, it is always helpful to keep costs down. In keeping with that goal, some research was done to prevent inmate suicides without adding to the budget. The following is an example of the low-cost suggestions for inmate suicide prevention, to be continued in this series.

House Suicidal Inmates with Others

Lack of supervision increases the risk of suicide in Texas county jails. A simple way to help prevent suicide is to house suicidal inmates with others who are at risk for committing suicide. In one county jail that adopted this policy, as of the time of the report, there had not been a successful suicide since the inmates were housed together.

Learn more in Part 1 and this ongoing series.

Suggesting that any individual or organization has engaged in misdeeds is never intended on this website. The posts on this site are intended as helpful resources to benefit prisoners now or previously detained in a county jail in Texas.

–Guest Contributor