In many jails across the country, inmate suicides occur even when family members have contacted the jail repeatedly to warn them about their loved one’s suicidal state. An example is a 26-year-old man, a father of three. The mentally ill man hung by his neck using a sheet for 13 minutes before being discovered by a jailer in the county jail outside of Texas. Serving double duty, the guard that night, who was also working dispatch, was the only member of the staff at the jail. Because of jail policy, the guard could not enter the cell by himself. He had to wait until another worker arrived.

The 26-year-old died, in spite of jail officials having been warned of his mental state by a doctor and the inmate’s father. Following this incident, the number of surveillance cameras installed in the jail was almost doubled.

A 56-year-old woman with substance abuse and mental health problems was jailed in a jail outside of Texas for acting in an erratic manner and was never charged with a crime. She was placed in a cell where she would supposedly be observed face-to-face every 15 minutes. The woman reportedly screamed and begged for a doctor for 25 hours or more.

The woman managed to kill herself by tearing a blanket into strips and using it to hang herself. While she was in the process of making this “noose,” a guard checked her through a window in the cell and wrote in the observation log that everything was okay with her.

Learn more in Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4 of this ongoing series. Similar stories are to follow.

The posts on this site are intended to provide assistance to Texas inmates and their families. There is never an intention to suggest that a person or institution has been involved in any kind of impropriety.

–Guest Contributor