According to a custodial death report filed by the Travis County Sheriff’s Department in Austin, Texas, Adan Ricardo Torres attempted suicide on November 14, 2021. The 35-year-old inmate was resuscitated and transported to a nearby hospital, where he died on November 19, 2021. 

The following continues with information from an article about suicides in jails.

Statistics on Local Jail Suicides 

A report on jail suicides revealed that between 2001 and 2018, suicide was the leading cause of death in jails. Suicide accounted for 30% of all custodial deaths during that time. More than 50% of all suicides that took place in local jails occurred during the first 30 days of incarceration. 

The study also revealed that 77% of the deaths ruled as suicides that occurred in local jails took place among prisoners who had not yet been convicted of a crime. Two-thirds of the local jail suicides were committed within the first 30 days, and 44% happened within the first week of incarceration.

Potential factors that have been causing the increase in suicides were explored in this study. The following are among the factors that are believed to have influenced the high rate of suicides :

• Characteristics of the inmate population
• The experience of incarceration
• Common features of the environment
• Factors that affected inmates prior to incarceration, including substance abuse problems and serious mental health issues

Learn more in Part 1 and this ongoing series.

Suggesting that a person or individual has participated in wrongdoing is not intended on this website. Each post is offered as a resource of benefit to Texas county jail inmates.

–Guest Contributor