On the afternoon of October 21, 2019, 59-year-old Jeffery Lynn Peters, a Galveston County Jail inmate, died in a hospital emergency room. The custodial death report indicates that he was in jail medical and was detoxing before becoming unconscious.

It is not unusual for inmates in Texas county jails to die behind bars while detoxing from alcohol or drug abuse. Inmates are supposed to receive necessary medical care, according to the minimum jail standards provided by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS). There is no room in minimum requirements for jailers who demonstrate indifference toward the medical needs of an inmate.

TCJS requires every jail to come up with a health services plan and to implement that plan in compliance with minimum jail standards. When it comes to complaints against Texas jails, TCJS has reported on those complaints indicating that, by far, the most common complaint has to do with denial of medical care or inadequate medical care.

Annual jail inspections are intended to determine whether Texas county jails are compliant with minimum jail standards. Rarely do these inspections expose denial of medical care. There have been times, however, when inmates in U.S. county jails have died and then medical staff members have been accused of the following and more:

• Denied proper medical care to inmates,
• Exhibited indifference toward inmates with apparent health problems,
• Withheld prescription medications, and
• Failed to adequately examine inmates.

Learn more in this continuing series.

This website is offered as a helpful resource for inmates detained currently or previously in Texas county jails. It is at no time intended on this site to denote that persons or organizations have engaged in improprieties.

–Guest Contributor