Christopher Steven McHenry Dies in Texas City, Texas Jail – Rangers Investigate

The Texas City Police Department in Texas City, Texas recently filed a custodial death report with the Attorney General of Texas.  The report was about the death of Christopher Steven McHenry.  Mr. McHenry was 49 years of age at the time of his death.

We do not make any allegations of wrongdoing against anyone.  Instead, we are simply providing information contained in the report.

The report does not indicate the time of Mr. McHenry’s arrest.  However, he was a prisoner in a jail located at 1004 9^th Avenue North, Texas City, in Galveston County, Texas.  Mr. McHenry was allegedly arrested on a warrant for possession of a controlled substance.

The report indicates that Mr. McHenry exhibited mental health problems, although the report does not indicate what those alleged problems were.  Mr. McHenry was found unresponsive in a detoxification cell at approximately 3:37 a.m. on April 3, 2019.  Jailers called EMS to the scene, and they administered CPR.  Mr. McHenry was pronounced deceased.

The report indicates that Mr. McHenry’s cause of death is unknown.  The Texas Rangers will be conducting an investigation.  This is typical in county jail deaths in a number of counties in Texas.  It is usually important to have an outside law enforcement agency investigating such a death.

The report provides little details about when Mr. McHenry was arrested, any underlying health issues, whether he exhibited significant signs of being intoxicated, and/or whether he was provided any healthcare as a result of intoxication.  Jails should have in place detoxification protocols. It is insufficient to simply arrest someone who appears to be intoxicated and then let the person linger in a cell.  We are not alleging that occurred with regard to Mr. McHenry, but we have noticed that it is a significant issue in Texas jails as well as jails across the country.

The United States Constitution guarantees pretrial prisoners, such as Mr. McHenry, the right to reasonable medical care.  If jailers are deliberately indifferent to a prisoner’s medical needs, such as the need for appropriate detoxification treatment, and/or application of an appropriate detoxification protocol, then the jailers could be liable for such Constitutional violations to family members of a person who dies as a result.  Most such cases are filed in federal court, and pursuant to a federal statute.

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.