Cooke County Jail Inmate Kevin Patrick Cantwell Dies on 5/1/22 Continued

Kevin Patrick Cantwell was transported from Cooke County Jail to North Texas Medical Center, 1900 Hospital Blvd, Gainesville, TX 76240. He was pronounced dead on May 1, 2022, at 4:18 PM, which was less than an hour after Mr. Cantwell was found unresponsive in his single cell.

The Texas Rangers were notified about this custodial death, and they are conducting an investigation, per the custodial death report.

The Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) also conducted an investigation and the June 15, 2022, jail inspection report appears to refer to the death of Mr. Cantwell. It states that a video was reviewed after a custodial death, and it revealed that the face-to-face observation rounds were not conducted as required.

These face-to-face observations are partially intended to help prevent suicide, particularly suicide committed by prisoners who are known to be at risk. The timing is supposed to be random, though the maximum amount of time between observation checks of at-risk prisoners is 30 minutes and no more.

Lack of supervision gives suicidal inmates more time to carry out a deadly act against themselves. Overcrowding is one of the primary reasons for the failure of jailers to conduct required observations of prisoners. Another is understaffing.

Learn more in Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, and Part 6 of this series.

This website provides information for the purpose of helping prisoners in Texas County and municipal jails. Making insinuations against individuals or entities is never intentional on this site.

–Guest Contributor