Galveston County, Texas Jail Inmate Dies While Detoxing

The Galveston County Sheriff’s Department, in Galveston, Texas, recently filed a custodial death report regarding the death of Jeffery Lynn Peters.  Mr. Peters was 59 years old at the time of his death.  Information in this post was obtained from that report, and we make no allegation of any wrongdoing against anyone regarding Mr. Peters’ death.

Mr. Peters was originally incarcerated in the Galveston County jail on October 12, 2019 at approximately 8:48 p.m.  The custodial death report is unclear at best and provides very few details.  Our civil rights law firm reviews Texas custodial death reports frequently, and the summary regarding Mr. Peters’ death is shorter and less detailed than we have viewed in most such reports regarding similar circumstances.

The summary in the report reads as follows:

“Defendant was being treated by jail medical for detoxing.  Defendant became unresponsive.  Emergency medical treatment was summoned.  Defendant was transported by EMS to the emergency room, where he remained under a doctor’s care until the time of decease.  [sic]”

Therefore, the report does not provide the time or date of the occurrence when Mr. Peters became unresponsive.  The report does indicate that Mr. Peters passed away at 3:45 p.m. on October 21, 2019.

It is our experience that the Texas Rangers will conduct an investigation into Mr. Peters’ death, and that an autopsy will be conducted.  The report indicates, regarding manner of death, medical complications and the inability to determine the exact cause of death at the time the custodial death report was completed.

Without regard to what happened to Mr. Peters, our law firm sees a number of situations in which someone is detoxing from drug and/or alcohol abuse and passes away in a jail as a result.  Texas counties, cities, and jailers have duties arising under the 14^th Amendment to the United States Constitution.  They cannot be deliberately indifferent and/or act in an objectively unreasonable manner regarding someone’s medical needs.  If jailers, counties, and/or cities are deliberately indifferent and/or act pursuant to unconstitutional policies, and a person dies as a result, they can be liable to certain surviving family members.  These claims are brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 in federal court.

Further, aside from Mr. Peters’ death, it appears that the Galveston County jail may have issues.  Mr. Peters’ death was one of several deaths reported by the Galveston County Sheriff’s Department over the last several years.  Hopefully, if there are any issues with the Galveston County jail, the Galveston County Sheriff’s Department will quickly remedy them. 

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.