Man Dies by Suicide in Matagorda County, Texas Jail

The Matagorda County Sheriff’s Office, in Bay City, Texas, filed a report regarding the custodial death of Reyes Vargas, Jr. Mr. Vargas was only 23 years old at the time of his death. We provide 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:

“Decedent, Reyes Vargas, was in a single cell in F Tank in the Matagorda County Jail in Bay City, Texas. On 08/26/2023 around 1600 hours decedent was found hanging by his bed sheet in his cell. Jailers cut decedent down and started CPR. An ambulance was called and decedent was transported to the local hospital with CPR in progress. Life saving efforts at the hospital were unsuccessful and the decedent was pronounced dead at 1656 hours. Texas Rangers were contacted and are investigating the incident.”

The report further notes that Mr. Vargas allegedly did not exhibit any mental health problems and did not make suicidal statements.

The United States Constitution requires jails to protect suicidal inmates from those suicidal tendencies.  If jailers, medical personnel, and/or mental health personnel in a Texas county jail are deliberately indifferent to a person’s known suicidal tendencies, and the person dies as a result, then certain surviving family members may be able to file a federal civil rights lawsuit. Our Texas jail neglect and abuse law firm is handling a number of such cases 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.