In Roanoke, Texas, officers with the Roanoke Police Department restrained John Allen Ellingwood with double-locked handcuffs and took him to the jail. Before he was booked into the facility, Mr. Ellingwood had a medical crisis and was, instead, released from custody and transported to a nearby hospital. Soon after, he died at the age of 46 on November 14, 2020. 

Sandra Bland’s story is also included in the article that this series has alluded to. Her high-profile encounter with a police officer in Waller County, Texas, led to her arrest. Witnesses say that throughout her time of incarceration in the jail, she cried. Sometimes her sobs made it difficult for the guards to understand what she was saying. Ms. Bland was not placed on suicide watch, nor was she subjected to increased monitoring. This was in spite of her obvious depression and the report that she had tried committing suicide the year prior.

Ms. Bland was placed in a cell by herself because of alleged aggression against the police officer that arrested her. Guards acknowledged that she did not seem to be eating, and she also made several phone calls that caused her great frustration. To make bail, she needed just over $500 but couldn’t pay. Two hours before she was found hanging in her cell, jail staff members denied Ms. Bland’s request to make more phone calls.

See Part 1 and Part 2 of this three-part series.

Implying that persons or entities have engaged in wrongdoing is never intended on this website. The purpose of this site’s posts is to provide helpful resources to inmates now or previously detained in a Texas county jail.

–Guest Contributor