A Nueces County Detainee Found in an Altered Mental State Dies-2
The Nueces County Sheriff’s Office filed a custodial death report (CDR) about the October 27, 2023, death of 43-year-old Richard Gonzalez on November 17, 2023. The CDR indicates that, after his admission into Nueces County Jail, Mr. Gonzalez received medical treatment for the health condition that caused his death. However, his cause of death is unknown and pending autopsy results. The summary of how his death occurred provides a detailed account of what happened on the day of his death beginning at 9:30 a.m. Learn more in the next segment.
Nueces County Jail is Cited for Noncompliance with Rule §259.138(a)
Inspectors with the Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) made the following notes in the jail inspection reports issued to Nueces County Jail in 2022, 2021, and 2017, respectively. All were about the violation of Rule §259.138(a)-Holding Cells, in which detainees were held for longer than 48 hours.
In a notice of noncompliance dated July 29, 2022, an inspector indicated the following:
- Detainees were kept in holding cells without furniture or beds for over 48 hours in violation of state jail standards. Overpopulation is the jail’s main problem. This is partly due to the sheer number of detainees and prisoners: 1,192 people are being held in a space that is designed for a maximum of 1,164 people. But many of the cells have broken intercoms and, as a result, couldn’t comply with regulations requiring effective two-way communication with the guards. This alone rendered 39 jail beds unusable.
Learn more in Part 1 and this ongoing series.
Helping Texas jail detainees and their families with resources is one of the purposes of this website. There is no intention of intimating that individuals or entities have been involved in wrongs.
–Guest Contributor
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