Gilbert Shaw Medina Commits Suicide in Collin County Jail

The Collin County Sheriff’s Office, in McKinney, Texas, filed a report regarding the death of inmate Gilbert Shaw Medina. Mr. Medina was only 32 years old at the time of his death. We provide in this post information we obtained from that report, and we make no allegation of any wrongdoing against anyone.

The summary portion of the report reads in its entirety:

“Medina was housed in a single cell at the Collin County Detention Facility. During a normal cell check, the pod officer observed Medina was laying on the floor and non responsive. Detention staff entered the cell and observed a ligature around Medina’s neck and immediately cut it off of him. Medical staff responded to the scene and Medina was pronounced deceased.”

Thus, the report provides no information, in the summary, regarding whether Mr. Medina was on a cell check schedule appropriate for a person with mental health and/or self-harm issues. The report also provides no information about how often Mr. Medina’s cell was checked.

Our law firm continues to handle a number of jail suicide cases across Texas, and we believe, based on our experience, that anything short of continuous monitoring of a suicidal inmate is insufficient. It takes a very few minutes to commit suicide using a ligature. Further, if jailers are aware that an inmate is suicidal, we believe it shows deliberate indifference to put that person in a cell, with one or more tie-off points and materials with which a person can make a ligature. This is not just our Texas civil rights law firm’s opinion. The 5^th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans has agreed with this view.

The Collin County Sheriff’s Office chose not to complete the report in its entirety. The Collin County Sheriff’s Office failed to provide any information in response to the following fields in the form: Death Code; Custody Code; Intoxicated; Manner of Death Description; Code of Charges; and Medical Treatment Description. However, the Collin County Sheriff’s Office did disclose that Mr. Medina exhibited mental health problems and also made suicidal statements.

If a person’s constitutional rights are violated through being deliberately indifferent to that person’s mental health needs, and the person dies as a result, certain surviving family members may be able to file a lawsuit. These claims are typically filed in 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.