Bennie Ray Bell Dies After Being in El Paso County, Texas Jail

The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office, in Texas, filed a report regarding the custodial death of Bennie Ray Bell. Mr. Bell was 55 years old at the time of his death. We provide here information we obtained from that report, and we make no allegation of any wrongdoing against anyone:

The summary portion of the report reads in its entirety:

“On 03/06/2022 at approximately 2305 hours, Bell was booked into the Downtown Detention Facility. Bell was later transferred to the Jail Annex. On 06/22/22 Bell was transferred to Isolation Cell-2. On 07/24/222 at approximately 1720 hours officers were conducting a security check and noticed that Bell appeared to ill. Bell was also not responding to any communication with officers or medical staff. Medical staff was unable to determine Bell’s blood pressure and was transported to Providence Sierra East. Despite medical efforts Bell passed away at 1822 hours.”

Therefore, the report provides no information regarding why Mr. Bell was transferred to an isolation cell over 1 month before he was found apparently nonresponsive. The report also provides no information regarding Mr. Bell’s medical and/or mental health status. The report also provides no information regarding how often periodic checks were made of Mr. Bell.

The United States Constitution guarantees that those incarcerated in our Texas county jails receive reasonable medical care. If jailers or others fail to provide medical care to those in custody, and a person dies as a result, then certain surviving family members may be able to file a lawsuit.

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.