El Paso, Texas Jail Prisoner Dies from Suicide – Investigation Ensues

The El Paso County Sheriff’s Department, in El Paso, Texas, filed a report with the Attorney General of Texas regarding the custodial death of Andre Feaster. The report was filed on July 18, 2019 – over 30 days after Mr. Feaster’s death. Therefore, it appears that the El Paso County Sheriff’s Department violated Texas law by failing to file a custodial death report within 30 days after the death. Regardless, we make no allegation of any wrongdoing against anyone as it relates to Mr. Feaster’s death but instead are providing information extracted from that report.

Mr. Feaster was only 41 years old at the time he died. He had been arrested for possession of a controlled substance and a traffic warrant. He was originally incarcerated in the El Paso County detention facility. On June 4, 2019, Mr. Feaster claimed that he used heroin daily. He was then put on opioid protocol medication and housed in the jail’s general population.

On June 6, 2019, at 8:00 p.m., medical staff indicated that Mr. Feaster refused to take his medication. A detention officer said that, during nightly checks, Mr. Feaster was laying on his bunk. While the report does not reference a date, it reads that, at 6:04 a.m., two officers were conducting a head count and found Mr. Feaster hanging from a cell ventilation duct. It appears that Mr. Feaster had committed suicide. Mr. Feaster was pronounced as being deceased by EMS personnel 18 minutes later. An investigation is ongoing, and an autopsy was conducted. Based on our firm’s handling of jail suicide cases in Texas, it is also likely that the Texas Rangers will investigate.

The United States Constitution, specifically the 14^th Amendment, applies to pre-trial detainees as it relates to provision of reasonable medical care and mental health care. It also provides that jailers must protect a person from his or her suicidal tendencies. If jailers are deliberately indifferent to medical or mental health needs of a Texas pre-trial detainee, and the detainee commits suicide, jailers could be liable to family members of the deceased person as a result.

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.