Gilbert Kervlis Commits Suicide in Bexar County Jail in San Antonio

The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office filed a custodial death report with the Attorney General of Texas regarding the death of Gilbert Kervlis. Mr. Kervlis was only 48 years old at the time of his death. We provide information in this post which we obtained from that report, and we make no allegation of any wrongdoing against anyone related to Mr. Kervlis’s death.

The summary portion of the Texas custodial death reads in its entirety:

“On 9-28-20 at approximately 1509 hours inmate Gilbert Kervlis #932799 was found with a sheet tied around his neck which was attached to a anchored lavatory sink in the cell. Deputy S. Andrews #1259 then removed the sheet from around the neck of inmate Kervlis and layed the inmate on the floor and began chest compressions until relieved by another officer. Medical staff arrived and took over chest compressions. San Antonio Fire Department was contacted and arrived after several minutes. SAFD took over care, inmate Kervlis was then transported by ambulance to Downtown Baptist hospital. On 10-01-20 at approximately 1600 hours, Dr. Steven Hibburn pronounced inmate Kervlis deceased.”

The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office decided not to provide any information in the following fields in the report: Death Code; Manner of Death Description; Custody Code; Code of Charges; Intoxicated; and Medical Treatment Description. The custodial death report also provides no information regard any observations of Mr. Kervlis, whether he had expressed any suicidal intent, whether he had engaged in self-harm, or anything regarding his intake into the facility.

The United States Constitution guarantees the right of pre-trial detainees in Texas county jails to receive reasonable mental health care and to be protected from themselves when there is a serious risk of self-harm. If a Texas county has policies, practices, and/or customs which lead to such a death, then certain surviving family members may have a cause of action pursuant to federal law which may be filed in a federal court.

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.