Randall County, Texas Jail Death – Clayton Shennum

The Randall County Sheriff’s Office, in Amarillo, Texas, filed a report regarding the custodial death of Clayton Shennum. Mr. Shennum was only 39 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:

“On August 14, 2023 at approximately 4:50 AM Randall County Sheriff’s Office had an in custody death. Inmate Shennum, Clayton Lamar w/m XX/XX/1984 was found unresponsive in cell CA-112 shower with a mattress cover tied around his neck. The Officer working the housing area waited for back up and when it arrived inmate Shennum was removed from the shower and life saving measures were administered. Ambulance personal arrived and assisted in life saving measures and then ran an EKG strip that showed no activity in the heart. The time on the EKG strip showed 5:18 AM. The Texas Rangers were notified of the death in custody and Sgt. Scott Swick is the ranger in charge of the investigation. Justice of the Peace Tracy Byrd arrived and ordered autopsy.”

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

The 14^th Amendment to the United States Constitution requires jailers and/or medical personnel to provide reasonable medical and mental health care, and also to protect inmates from themselves and others. If jailers and/or medical personnel fail to do so, and a person dies as a result, then certain family members may be able to file a federal civil rights lawsuit. Our Texas jail neglect 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.