The Bexar County Sheriff’s Department prepared a custodial death report on 45-year-old Lambert Sabrsula, who died on November 28, 2020. Mr. Sabrsula was booked into Bexar County Jail in San Antonio, Texas, on November 13, 2020. The report indicates that he died of natural causes.

One of the rights that inmates have in county jails in Texas is the right to necessary medical care. According to the Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS), medical care is the topic that gets the most complaints. TCJS is responsible for providing guidelines for the operation of all county jails in the state.

Reportedly, it was partially as a result of one complaint about the treatment of a pregnant inmate in a Texas county jail that HB 1307 was signed into law this year. The Texas Jail Project, a watchdog group, supported the legislation. The gist of the bill is that it requires jails to provide counseling and care for pregnant inmates who then miscarried or were assaulted while incarcerated.

The woman whose experience led to this legislation had repeatedly requested medical care, but it was denied. She ultimately suffered a miscarriage, and it was also determined that she had a urinary tract infection. Such infections, if untreated, are known to sometimes lead to premature labor.

In the Texas Code, RULE §273.2-Health Services Plan provides details on procedures that must be in place for pregnant inmates.

Learn more in this ongoing series.

Implying that an individual or institution has engaged in wrongs is never intended on this website. Providing assistance to inmates now or previously held in county jails in Texas is the purpose of the posts on this site.

–Guest Contributor