Adan Ricardo Torres was found hanging in his cell at the Travis County Sheriff’s Office Correctional Complex in Austin, Texas, on November 14, 2021. He was cut down, resuscitated, and taken to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead on November 19, 2021. Mr. Torres was 35 years old.

In a recent publication, an October 2021 story revealed that suicides occurring in jails and prisons have increased by 39% in just the last two decades. This statistic reflects federal data that was used in the research. The story scrutinizes several specific cases of suicide. 

A prominent case spotlighted occurred in Tarrant County, Texas. A man with mental problems committed suicide and died at the age of 50. Allegedly, when the deceased was discovered, the jail staff had been late in performing the most recent observation check. As a result, the jail reportedly lost its state certification for about a week.

An alarming finding was that most of the people who die by suicide in local jails haven’t yet been convicted of any crimes. A watchdog group reports that in Texas in 2020 and so far in 2021, at least 163 people have died by suicide in Texas local jails. 

Learn more about suicide-related statistics from the research in this ongoing series.

Implying that an individual or organization has been a participant in misdeeds is not an intention on this website. Each of the posts is added to provide resources that could benefit inmates in county jails in Texas, whether current or former prisoners.

–Guest Contributor