Man in Midland, Texas with Mental Health Issues Dies After Refusing Food for 10 Days

The Midland County Sheriff’s Office, in Midland, Texas, filed a report regarding the custodial death of John Michael Soza. Mr. Soza was only 29 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:

“From at least September 17th until September 25th of 2023, inmate John Michael Soza had refused to eat over the course of 10 days (with the logged exception of one tray on 9/22/23). On September 25, 2023, inmate Soza was transported to Midland Memorial Hospital due to being catatonic. He was admitted to Midland Memorial Hospital on that day. Over the course of the next three (3) weeks he has several episodes where he lost heartbeat and was resuscitated until the early morning of October 15, 2023, where Mr. Soza passed away under a doctor’s care.”

The report also indicates that Mr. Soza exhibited mental health problems.

The United States Constitution requires Texas jails to provide reasonable medical and mental health care to detainees. If a detainee in a Texas jail dies as a result of a failure to provide medical or mental health care, then certain surviving family members may be able to bring a federal civil rights lawsuit. Our Texas constitutional rights law firm is litigating 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.