A deputy at Bexar County Jail in San Antonio, Texas, discovered 48-year-old Gilbert Kervlis in his cell with a sheet tied around his neck and attached to an anchored sink. Emergency medical care was provided and Mr. Kervlis was transported to a hospital, where he died on October 1, 2020. 

The Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) reported a while back that inmate suicides averaged 23 per year in Texas county jails from December 2015 through December 2016. The previous year, 35 suicides were reported. This represented almost a 60% decline in suicides from one year to the next. A change in intake screening procedures together with increased vigilance among jail staff are credited with the decrease in suicides that occurred.

The tragic death of Sandra Bland was a catalyst for change. Ms. Bland died in Waller County Jail in 2015 three days after an infamous encounter with a Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper in Waller County.

Prior to the changes made by the Sandra Bland Act, inmates self-reported suicidal thoughts and history, intellectual disabilities, health histories, and more. The new screening form uses multiple questions for the purpose of eliciting the same information. In addition, jailers are provided with more detailed instructions on how to respond to the answers inmates give to related questions. 

Learn more in Part 1 and Part 2 of this series.

Suggesting that a person or entity has been a participant in wrongs is never intended on this website. Each of the posts on this site is intended as a resource to benefit inmates now or formerly incarcerated in a Texas county jail.

–Guest Contributor