Edgar Garza had been in Starr County Detention Center for only 144 minutes when he was pronounced dead. Mr. Garza committed suicide by hanging himself on October 19, 2020, in the Rio Grande City, Texas, jail.

According to a recent report on jail suicides, most custodial suicides happen a short time after an inmate is booked into jail. A major newspaper’s research concluded that 26% of inmate suicides occur in the first week of being placed behind bars. These and other statistics raise questions about whether jails are doing an adequate job of evaluating the mental health of inmates during intake screening. Other issues in question include the manner in which jail staff members communicate with inmates’ family members. When custodial suicides occur, is there appropriate oversight and accountability?

In a county jail outside Texas, a young woman told a police officer who was transporting her to a jail that she wanted to kill herself. The officer warned members of the jail staff, but the woman was not placed on suicide watch. It is important for at-risk inmates to be housed in the appropriate area so that monitoring occurs more frequently. Instead of face-to-face cell checks every hour, as with the general population, inmates who are potentially suicidal are checked every 15 minutes. 

Although the young woman wasn’t placed in housing with increased supervision, she was given a suicide smock. However, there was no supervision when she changed from her clothes to the jail-issued smock. She was discovered dead within two hours, and a string was wrapped tightly around her neck.

See Part 1 of this ongoing series.

Making an implication that an individual or entity has been involved in misdeeds is never intended on this website. Assisting prisoners now or formerly held in a county jail in Texas is the purpose of this site’s posts.

–Guest Contributor