Sean Caleb Denison Dies After Incarceration in Gladewater Police Department Custody

The Gladewater Police Department, in Texas, filed a report regarding the custodial death of Sean Caleb Denison. Mr. Denison was only 29 years old at the time of his death. We provide in this post 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:

“Subject removed his jail uniform and secured the uniform to expanded metal ceiling and placed his weight on the clothing and used gravity to hang himself by the neck.”

Thus, the report provides no information at all about events leading up to the apparent death by suicide, whether Mr. Denison had been evaluated by a mental health professional, what if anything was learned during jail booking and intake, or other issues which would provide more context. The report does indicate that Mr. Denison was arrested only for public intoxication.

Our Texas jail neglect law firm is litigating a number of suicide cases across Texas. We likewise are litigating a number of cases where medical care was denied to detainees in Texas jails. An unfortunate pattern has developed with our cases—people being arrested for low-level offenses. It is common to see arrests for public intoxication and/or criminal trespass. Criminal trespass tends to be, in our experience, situations in which a person with significant drug and/or mental health issues might be lingering at a convenience store.

The United States Constitution requires jails in Texas to protect inmates from their suicidal tendencies. It also requires jails to provide reasonable medical care. If these constitutional guarantees are violated, and a person dies as a result, then certain surviving family members may be able to file a federal civil rights lawsuit.

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.