Bell County, Texas Jail Inmate Commits Suicide

Bell County Jail inmate Eli Gauna, Jr., only 24 years of age at the time, committed suicide in the jail in Temple, Texas on January 1, 2018.  Information in this post was obtained from a death report filed by the Bell County Sheriff’s Department with the Texas Attorney General.

The report indicates that Mr. Gauna was found hanging in his jail cell.  After being found, he was subsequently treated and transported to Baylor Scott & White Hospital in Temple.  Mr. Gauna passed away on February 4, 2018.  The custodial death report indicates that Mr. Gauna had made suicidal statements.

We make no allegations in this post about any wrongdoing.  However, pretrial detainees are entitled to reasonable medical and mental health care.  This is guaranteed by the United States Constitution.  The report indicates that Mr. Guana had made suicidal statements.  If jail staff were aware that Mr. Guana might or was likely to commit suicide, and/or otherwise harm himself, they had a constitutional duty to take action.  Once again, we have no evidence indicating as much, but are simply providing information in this post.

Written By: Dean Malone

Dean Malone

Dean Malone is the founder of Law Offices of Dean Malone, P.C., a jail neglect civil rights law firm. Mr. Malone earned his bachelor's degree at the University of Texas at Dallas, graduating summa cum laude with a 4.0 GPA, and from Baylor University School of Law with a general civil litigation concentration. Mr. Malone served in several staff positions for the Baylor Law Review, including executive editor. Mr. Malone is an experienced trial lawyer, trying a number of cases to jury verdict and also handling arbitrations through final hearing. He heads the jail neglect section of his law firm, in which lawyers litigate cases involving serious injury and death resulting from jail neglect and abuse. Lawyers frequently refer cases to Mr. Malone due to his focus on this very complicated civil rights practice area.