At a time when there were already concerns about the number of custodial deaths at the Dallas County Jail,  Devon Alexander Mosley died at age 31 on December 4, 2018. He had been housed in the medical unit of the jail when he was discovered unresponsive and died later that day.

The Texas Commission on Jail Standards has the responsibility of creating minimum jail standards for Texas county jails. The safety of inmates and others is a priority. Although custodial suicides are more of a concern because they occur at a higher rate than the general population outside correctional facilities, medical care is also a crucial issue.

Inmates have a right to receive needed medical care. A challenge for many county jails has been the cost of providing medical services. When local medical care is replaced by a contract with a third-party medical care provider, research shows a decline in prisoner access to the care they need. Various studies throughout the United States strongly indicate that these types of providers tend to place profit over the welfare of inmates. Deaths have occurred as a result of the denial of medical care.

Many stories of disturbing medical care denial in jails have been publicly exposed across the country. The following is a brief synopsis of one such story.

Inmate Dies of a Survivable Form of Leukemia

In a jail outside of Texas, an inmate died in custody and his autopsy revealed that the cause of death was acute promyelocytic leukemia. Sources claim that the survival rate of the condition is 90% and that the inmate had not received appropriate medical care or health services.

See Part 1 and Part 2 of this three-part series.

This website offers posts for the purpose of helping current and former inmates in Texas county jails. There is no intent on this website to infer improprieties on persons or organizations.

–Guest Contributor