Donald Oscar Cruz was booked into Nueces County Jail in Corpus Christi, Texas, on November 13, 2020. He died five days later on November 18, 2020. Mr. Cruz was 48 years old at the time of his death.

The Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) requires county jails in the state to ensure that the mandated number of jail staff members are in the jail 24/7. A recent jail inspection report that revealed non-compliance at a Texas county jail included a note from the TCJS inspector. He commented on the heightened level of inmate hostility and tension in that jail system. Based on what he saw during the course of the inspection process and a review of Serious Incident Reports, he concluded that there was an ongoing lack of sufficient staffing. The reports on serious incidents revealed that, between 2020 and 2021 numbers, inmate assaults increased.

Jail staff members must not only be present but they must be trained. Many inmates are at risk, and suicide is one of the biggest threats. Suicide is the leading cause of inmate deaths when county jails are considered across the US.  The following are details of suicide training non-compliance at a Texas county jail in a jail inspection report dated September 27th, 2021.

Mental Disabilities/Suicide Prevention Plan – Training

Rule §273.5 (1) under Health Services in the Texas Administrative Code states that each county jail must develop and implement a suicide prevention and mental disabilities plan that includes training. Jail staff members must know how to recognize, supervise, document, and handle potentially suicidal and mentally disabled prisoners.

The inspector with TCJS found that suicide prevention training for jail staff members had not been conducted within the past year, which would have been in accordance with the facility operational plan.

Learn more in Part 1 and this continuing series.

It is never intended on this website to suggest that an individual or institution has participated in wrongs. Each post is purposed as a potential benefit to county jail inmates in Texas, whether currently or previously incarcerated.

–Guest Contributor