The Gregg County Sheriff’s Department filed a custodial death report (CDR) on 43-year-old Ashley Elizabeth Maxwell on June 2, 2022. Ms. Maxwell entered the jail at 4:44 PM on May 24, 2022. She was pronounced dead at the jail on May 27, 2022, after hanging herself in a cell that housed Ms. Maxwell and three other women. The address of Gregg County Jail is 100 West Whaley, Longview TX 75601.

Suicide in Jails

One of the many studies on jail suicides reveals that the 10th leading cause of death in the United States is suicide unless you are focusing on jails. Suicide is the number one cause of death in local jails. There are various known reasons inmates commit suicide. Environmental reasons for suicide and other random information about custodial suicide follow.

Environmental risk factors for inmate suicide include the following:

• Overcrowding
• Substance abuse or withdrawal
• Lack of support systems
• Stress from other inmates
• The shock of being in the jail environment
• Sharing personal space
• History of trauma

Approximately half of all custodial suicides occur in days 1 through 9 of incarceration. Inmates who commit suicide have not always been identified as suicidal.

Most custodial suicide victims are in single cells. An obvious conclusion is that placing suicidal inmates in multi-occupancy cells should help with suicide prevention. Perhaps that’s because of the socialization and heightened observation that exist among others. Yet when inmates are identified as suicidal, they are typically placed in a single cell in Texas county jails

Most jail suicides are committed by non-Hispanic white men aged 55 and older, but jailers are often trained to be aware that all inmates are at risk at any given time.

Learn more in this ongoing series.

This website is meant as a resource of benefit to inmates in Texas county jails and making accusations against persons or organizations is never intended.

–Guest Contributor