Man Commits Suicide in the Tarrant County Jail in Fort Worth, Texas
The Tarrant County Sheriff’s Department, in Fort Worth, Texas, filed a custodial death report regarding the dean of Dean Ray Stewart. Mr. Stewart was 50 years old at the time of his death.
Mr. Stewart committed suicide. However, when reading the report filed by the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Department, one would never know it. The report is blank in the “Manner of Death Description” section. The report also contains no Death Code. The report does indicate that Mr. Stewart did not make suicidal statements and did not exhibit any mental health problems.
Amazingly, even though Mr. Stewart’s situation has been widely reported in the news media, the entire summary in the report regarding Mr. Stewart’s death reads:
“Mr. Dean Stewart was booked into our custody on 04/06/2020, he was evaluated by our medical and MHMR personnel. After the evaluations were completed it was determined the Mr. Stewart would be housed in a single cell for his protection.”
It was also widely reported that the Tarrant County jail was found to be non-compliant by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards as a result of Mr. Stewart’s death. Apparently, jailers were not observing Mr. Stewart as required by minimum Texas Commission on Jail Standards standards.
The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees the right of pretrial detainees, such as Mr. Stewart, to be protected from themselves. This includes protection from suicidal tendencies. If jailers were deliberately indifferent to such suicidal tendencies and/or acted in an objectively unreasonable manner, then they could be liable to certain surviving family members. Moreover, Tarrant County could potentially liable for his death if a policy, practice, and/or custom led to the death. Such claims are brought pursuant to federal law and are thus typically filed in federal court in Texas. Tarrant County is in the Fort Worth Division of the Northern District of Texas.
Dean Malone
Dean Malone