In a county jail outside Texas, a young man had been placed with the general population upon booking. A jail mental health worker is the one who cleared him to be placed there. Seven months later, the man’s family reported to the mental health worker at the jail that he had threatened suicide if the criminal charges he faced went to trial. The response of the healthcare worker was not to place the inmate in a segregated cell so that he might be safer and more closely supervised under suicide watch. 

In the early morning hours one day, the inmate began to cut himself repeatedly, even while he struggled with corrections officers attempting to halt his suicidal behavior. He managed to lacerate his neck to the point that he committed suicide.

Although the jail mental health worker did not move the inmate to a suicide watch cell, he did create a detailed plan for monitoring the inmate around the times of his three upcoming court dates. In addition, the plan included conducting separate assessments of his mental health before each of the court dates. It would be totally erroneous to insist that the mental health worker at the jail disregarded the inmates serious need for medical care. What was lacking was taking appropriate steps in suicide prevention as an overall plan rather than focusing on court dates. 

See Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4 of this continuing series.

Inferring wrongs on a person or institution is never intended on this website.  Helping county jail prisoners in Texas, whether currently or previously detained, is the purpose of posts on this site.

–Guest Contributor