Noel Dominguez Torrez/Torres Dies After Being in El Paso, Texas Jail

The El Paso County Sheriff’s Department, in El Paso, Texas, filed a custodial death report with Ken Paxton (Attorney General of Texas).  The report provided information regarding the death Noel Dominguez Torrez.  We are not certain whether the report should have listed the last name as “Torres” instead of “Torrez.” Mr. Torrez was only 44 years of age at the time of his death.  Information in this post was obtained from that report, and we make no allegation of any wrongdoing against anyone.

Mr. Torrez was incarcerated in the El Paso County, Texas jail beginning November 24, 2019 at 1:35 a.m.  Just a few hours later, Mr. Torrez was found hanging from his bunkbed support rail.  He had been housed in cell block 810, cell 2L.  This was a general population cell block with four cells and a total of nine other inmates.  There are four bunkbeds in each cell.  Mr. Torrez was housed with three other inmates.

Mr. Torrez’s three other cellmates were outside of the cell in the day room.  One of the cellmates told another cellmate to look at Mr. Torrez.  Mr. Torrez was then observed laying on the floor with a towel tied around his neck at one end and the bunk support rail on the other end.  EMS were called to the scene, and Mr. Torrez was transferred to a local El Paso hospital.  Mr. Torrez was admitted to I.C.U. at Las Palmas Medical Center.  Mr. Torrez ultimately passed away on November 30, 2019.

The report indicates that Mr. Torrez made suicidal statements.  However, the report does not indicate whether Mr. Torrez was put on suicide on watch as a result of such statements.

Without regard to what happened to Mr. Torrez, the United States Constitution guarantees the right of Texas county jail inmates to receive reasonable medical care and mental health care.  The Constitution also guarantees the right to protection to such inmates, both from assaults by other inmates and from committing suicide.  These rights arise under the 14^th Amendment.  If a jailer or county violates these rights, the jailer or county may be liable to the inmate, if the inmate survives, or certain family members, if the inmate does not survive, for violation of federal law.  These cases are usually filed in federal court in 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.