Detainee in Liberty County Texas Dies After Suicide Attempt-Pt.2
A Family Questions Why Their 21-Year-Old Loved One on Suicide Watch Died from Suicide Continued
According to the jail response of the city jail outside Texas, the 21-year-old was put on suicide watch and placed in a holding cell. A jail employee had the specific assignment of watching the young man with routine checks on him that night. The jailer says that she saw the detainee was in the same position inside the cell for two consecutive checks. She decided to open his cell door and check on him at 12:11 a.m.
When the jail door opened, the jailer said that she saw the detainee hanging in his cell by a phone cord wrapped around his neck. Lifesaving measures failed.
The subsequent investigation found video footage that showed the detainee in his cell standing near the stainless-steel phone inside his cell at approximately 10 p.m. About 11 minutes later, the footage shows that he can be seen relaxing his body to the point where he was suspended by the telephone cord that was wrapped around his neck. Allegedly, the jail staff did not enter the cell and make this discovery until two hours later.
The protocol for suicide watch at the city jail is for the suicidal detainees to be checked on every 15 minutes. The sign-off sheet on the cell door showed that the jailer assigned to the suicide watch had checked on the detainee at 9:37 p.m. and then at midnight before the discovery was made of what happened.
Learn more in Part 1 and this ongoing series.
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–Guest Contributor
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