Fifty-three-year-old Darlene Francis was booked into Bexar County Jail in San Antonio, Texas, on Wednesday, June 28, 2023, at 10:39 PM. She died on June 30 at 9:42 AM just 35 hours later. Her cause of death is unknown and pending autopsy results. The address of the Bexar County Jail is 200 N. Comal, San Antonio, TX 78207.

Bexar County Jail Custodial Death Statistics

A Texas organization dedicated to providing law enforcement statistics provides data showing custodial deaths in the state by county. There were 25 inmate deaths in Bexar County Jail in 2022. That was a high number when the average number of deaths in Bexar County are considered except for the years 2020 and 2021, when there were 36 and 37 custodial deaths, respectively. Both years had many more deaths than the average in Bexar County Jail.

Annual jail inspections are conducted in each Texas county jail. Bexar County Jail has passed inspections in all recent years except 2019 when there were 22 custodial deaths. It seems that inspections don’t necessarily provide insights and predictors for inmate deaths. Minimum jail standards provide a low bar for jail performance. There seems to be almost a total disconnect between a jail’s performance and the number of inmates who die in that jail’s custody. In this series, we will look at data to find if there are any patterns that may lead to in-custody deaths.

Providing Texas jail detainees and their families with helpful resources is one of the purposes of this website. There is no intention of implicating that individuals or institutions have participated in wrongdoing.

–Guest Contributor