Lambert Sabrsula was 45 years old when he died in the custody of Bexar County Jail in San Antonio, Texas, on November 28, 2020. He was booked into the jail on November 13, 2020. According to the custodial death report, which was filed by the Bexar County Sheriff’s Department, Mr. Sabrsula died of natural causes, including complications of mental health disorders.

The Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) requires jail staff members to be trained so that they can recognize, supervise, document, and handle inmates with mental disabilities as well as those who are possibly suicidal. Once an inmate has been identified as mentally ill or potentially suicidal, they are placed in housing where observations of inmates are more frequent than in the general population. Every 15 minutes, maximum, inmates must be observed in these areas.

During annual jail inspections, records are checked to determine whether requirements for inmate observations are in compliance. Oftentimes, they are not.

Texas Jail Inspection Report on Noncompliance Dated April 18, 2018

The TCJS inspector at a county jail in Texas reviewed and the face-to-face requirements for checking the general population, which is every 60 minutes, was exceeded on a continuous basis by 1 to 3 minutes. 

Learn more in Part 1 and Part 2 of this series.

On this website, there is never an intention to infer wrongdoing on the part of any person or institution.

Suggesting that a person or entity has been involved in wrongdoing is never intended on this website. Providing assistance to inmates in Texas county jails is the purpose of posts on this site.

–Guest Contributor