When allegedly trying to force an exit from his Galveston County Jail cell during a struggle with jail staff members, 47-year-old Ariel Ledesma was pushed back and struck his head. On December 14, 2020, Mr. Ledesma died of a head injury resulting from that incident.

One way county jails are to help prevent the deaths of inmates is by addressing the problem of suicide. In virtually every jail in the U.S., suicide is the leading or second leading cause of death. Jail staff members receive training on how to detect and prevent inmate suicide.

The following statistics demonstrate the importance of understanding the threat of suicide in Texas jails. These statistics were provided by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS), which establishes minimum jail standards for county jails.

Of the suicides in Texas jails:

• 24% happen within the first 24 hours that an inmate is incarcerated.
• 27% occur between the second and 14^th days of incarceration.
• 20% of the suicide victims are intoxicated when they take their own life.
• 93% of the suicides happen using hanging as the method.

The following statistic highlights the importance of inmate supervision, a topic spotlighted in the first segment of this series:

• 31% of suicide victims are discovered more than 60 minutes after the last face-to-face observation.

See Part 1 of this ongoing series.

Providing assistance to Texas county inmates is the purpose of the posts on this website. There is no intention to infer that misdeeds have occurred on the part of persons or institutions.

–Guest Contributor