Kevin Patrick Cantwell Dies After Being in the Cooke County, Texas Jail

The Cooke County Sheriff’s Office, in Gainesville, Texas, filed a report regarding the custodial death of Kevin Patrick Cantwell. We provide in this post information obtained from that report, and we make no allegation of any wrongdoing.

The summary portion of the report reads in its entirety:

“On Saturday, April 9, 2022, at approximately 2:54 p.m., Kevin Patrick CANTWELL, 57 years of age, was booked into the Cooke County Jail on a warrant for Fail to Appear DWI 3rd or more.
During routine medical screening, CANTWELL did not mention any previous medical conditions, but appeared intoxicated on drugs or alcohol and was threating to kill himself. CANTWELL was placed in a solitary isolation cell and on suicide watch until Wednesday, April 20, 2022, when he was evaluated by Texoma Community Center, via a video conference. The evaluation from Texoma Community Center, recommended that CANTWELL be removed from “on view” and placed in the general population.
After the evaluation, CANTWELL remained in a solitary isolation cell because he would soil himself and walked around without clothes.
On Sunday, May 1, 2022, at approximately 3:35 PM, Cooke County Jail staff were conducting their routine observations of inmates and observed CANTWELL in the solitary isolation cell laying on the floor and unresponsive. Jail staff began CPR and called for EMS.
EMS transported CANTWELL to North Texas Medical Center in Gainesville, where CANTWELL was pronounced dead, at 4:18 p.m.
The Texas Rangers were notified and will be conducting an investigation.”

This is yet another death in a Texas jail of a person who appears to have had serious mental and/or medical issues. The Constitution requires that people who are incarcerated in our jails be protected. This includes protection from self-harm tendencies. It also includes providing appropriate medical and mental health care. If jailers or medical personnel do not do so, and an inmate dies as a result, then family members may be able to file a federal lawsuit. Our jail neglect firm has a number of such cases pending across Texas.

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.