Thirty-nine-year-old Clayton Shennum was booked into Randall County Jail on July 31, 2023. On August 14, 2023, at 4:50 a.m., he was discovered unresponsive in his cell shower. He had used a mattress cover around his neck to commit suicide. He was pronounced deceased that morning at 5:18 a.m. in his cell. The address of Randall County Jail where Mr. Shennum was incarcerated is 9100 S. Georgia Street in Amarillo, Texas. The Randall County jail system has a housing capacity of 454 detainees.

The Family of a Suicide Victim in a County Jail Outside Texas Seeks Answers

Jail is not supposed to be a place where detainees go to die. Protecting suicidal detainees from themselves is an important role that jails cannot ignore. In Texas, the Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) includes suicide prevention in the minimum jail standards that local jails must comply with.

In a story outside Texas, a family has expressed their confusion about what could have happened to take the life of their loved one. The jail administration says the 47-year-old woman informed the jail that she suffered from depression. However, she also said that she never attempted suicide nor had any thoughts about that. The jail says they filed her under “special consideration” because she had disclosed a mental illness and there was an infectious injury on her arm. They were concerned about possible drug withdrawal.

Learn more in this continuing series.

Providing helpful information for detainees in county and city jails in Texas is one of the purposes of this website. There is never an intention of accusing a person or entity of wrongdoing on this site.

–Guest Contributor