Jared Jon Bell, age 32, was booked into Travis County Jail in Austin, Texas, at 11:27 pm on February 7, 2022. Two days later he was placed in a room with no other inmates for the purpose of making a phone call. He was soon discovered with the phone cord wrapped around his neck, and he was pronounced dead at 11:07 am on February 9, 2022.

Suicide prevention measures are essential in county jails in Texas because suicide is a leading cause of inmate deaths. In recent years, a study was conducted that examined the suicides that had occurred in a county outside Texas that had the most inmate suicides in that state within the most recent five-year period. 

Looking into the different suicides in that county revealed that staff shortages are a contributing factor when face-to-face inmate observations are neglected. A jailer had allegedly been caught falsifying records, but he claimed that altering documentation to create the illusion of compliance with minimum jail standards is a common practice. For instance, a logbook for recording observation checks of inmates included numerous entries of cell checks that had never actually occurred. 

Several guards associated with the falsifying of jail documentation said that there aren’t enough guards to complete all tasks assigned to them.

In the case of one suicide in that county jail, a 30-year-old inmate was found dead in the infirmary, where jailers had left him without supervision for 30 minutes.

Making implications that people or organizations have engaged in wrongdoing is not intended on this website. Helping county jail prisoners in Texas is the purpose of posts on this site.

–Guest Contributor