Victor Rene Gonzales died at age 37 in the custody of Travis County Jail in Austin, Texas, on September 4, 2022. Mr. Gonzales was booked into the jail on September 1, 2022. The address of Travis County Jail is 500 W 10^th Street in Austin, TX 78701.

Travis County Jail Inmate Commits Suicide on 2/9/22

On February 9, 2022, in Austin, Texas, 32-year-old Jared Jon Bell took his own life while he was detained in Travis County Jail. The custodial death report about his passing says that Mr. Bell entered the jail just two days before being pronounced deceased in the jail’s day room/recreation area.

The summary of how Mr. Bell’s death occurred indicates that at 10:13 AM that day, he was discovered sitting down with a phone cord wrapped around his neck. Lifesaving measures were immediately initiated and continued with the arrival of paramedics. A physician at the scene declared Mr. Bell to be deceased at 11:07 AM.

After Sandra Bland’s Waller County Jail Death, Custodial Suicides in Texas were Scrutinized

Tragically, suicides are not a rare occurrence in Texas jails. Due to a viral video at the time of her arrest, the tragic death by suicide of Sandra Bland in Waller County Jail captured the world’s attention in the summer of 2015. An article published in Breitbart News later that summer stated that 140 people in Texas county jails had committed suicide in the five years preceding Ms. Bland’s death.

Around the time when the autopsy reports on Ms. Bland were reported in Waller County, an announcement was made by the Texas House County Affairs Committee.  Hearings on Texas county jail standards were scheduled to be held.

Learn more in this continuing series.

This site provides information to help Texas inmates who are or have been incarcerated in a county or city jail in the state. Insinuating that a person or institution has been involved in misdeeds is never intended.

–Guest Contributor