Nineteen days after he was booked into the El Paso County Detention Facility in downtown El Paso, Texas, Andres Linares Baca was found unresponsive in his single cell. At age 39, he died that morning, which was May 29, 2022.

3 Deceased El Paso County Jail Inmates are Mentioned in Jail Inspection Reports in 2017

Inspectors with the Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) conducted at least three inspections at El Paso County jails in 2017. Alarmingly, investigations related to the deaths of three inmates in the jail are alluded to in connection with lack of compliance. In connection with two of the inmates, Rule §275.1-Regular Observation by Jailers was allegedly neglected. Two other rules related to dispensing medications were cited, as well.

The March 16, 2017, Special Jail Inspection Report regarding noncompliance at El Paso County Jail refers to inmate Norberto Santa Cruz. Mr. Santa Cruz had been booked into the downtown El Paso county jail on March 3, 2017. He was found hanging by his neck from a vent in his single cell the next day. Mr. Santa Cruz was moved to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead on March 11, 2017, after being removed from life support.

A Special Jail Inspection Report dated October 30, 2017, indicates that medical staff failed to ensure that inmate Robert Gallegos took his medications. It also indicates that all observations of Mr. Gallegos were not made as required. He died at the El Paso County Jail on September 16, 2017. The cause of death is listed as peritonitis due to a ruptured bowel.

In the same October report, 40-year-old inmate Brooks Abe Plecas Perrin was also mentioned in connection with medications being supplied to the inmates. Mr. Plecas Perrin died as an inmate of El Paso County Jail on May 23, 2017. His cause of death is unknown, even though the results of the autopsy have been released.

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

Providing assistance to municipal and county jail prisoners in Texas is the reason for this website. There is never an intention of implicating persons or entities in acts of wrongdoing.

–Guest Contributor