Matthew Tyler Fox went through intake screening when he was booked into Val Verde County Jail on December 16, 2018. It was determined that he was an addict of drugs or alcohol going through withdrawals and was sent to a medical observation tank. In spite of being under heightened watch, with face-to-face checks by jailers required every 25 minutes at most in the Del Rio, Texas, jail, Fox was discovered to be deceased from hanging himself on December 18th, two days after his arrival.

An inspector with the Texas Commission on Jail Standards prepared a Special Inspection Report after an inspection of a Texas county jail in 2017 instigated by the death of an inmate. The findings potentially illustrate how vitally important inmate supervision can be. The inspector found a violation of the following requirement, as detailed further on in this post.

Texas Administrative Code, Title 37, Part 9, Chapter 275, RULE §275.1 — Regular Observation by Jailers

Inmates must be observed face-to-face on a routine basis. In the general population, jailers must check on the prisoners every hour at most. In areas where inmates have demonstrated bizarre behavior or have been recognized as mentally ill, assaultive, or potentially suicidal, the observations must take place every 30 minutes at most.

• The inspector said that video evidence, as well as documentation, showed that there were no face-to-face observations for approximately 5 hours leading up to the discovery that an inmate was deceased.

See Part 1 and Part 2 of this three-part series.

The purpose of posts on this website is to provide help for prisoners in county jails in Texas, whether they are now or formerly incarcerated. This site never intends to infer that persons or institutions have been involved in improprieties.

–Guest Contributor