Thirty-six-year-old Ryan Adam Legg was booked into Bexar County Jail in San Antonio, Texas, on March 21, 2022. On his fourth day in the jail, he was found in his multiple-occupancy cell with a sheet tied around his neck, and jail staff began chest compressions. The San Antonio Fire Department soon arrived and continued the life-saving measures, but Mr. Legg did not survive and was pronounced dead March 24, 2022.

Inmate Suicide

A study was done of inmate suicides in a county outside Texas when it became evident that the jail’s inmate death rate (1.64 per 1,000 inmates) is significantly higher than the national average (1.46). The study sought to identify and understand the complex, varied factors that have contributed to the rising number of inmate suicides.

Jailers completing inmate checks as required in minimum jail standards helps to prevent suicide, but one of the issues in the county outside Texas was that the deputies at the jail failed to complete face-to-face observation checks. In one county jail that was included in the inmate suicide study, an inmate had been visually checked by a deputy, but the evidence that the inmate was in the process of committing suicide wasn’t recognized by the jailer.

Jail staff training is an essential step in suicide prevention. Learn more in this continuing series.

Making implications that wrongdoing has occurred on the part of persons or institutions is never intended on this website. The purpose of each post on this site is to provide information of benefit to inmates in Texas county jails.

–Guest Contributor