The loss of loved ones is often especially painful during the holidays, and many people across the U.S. are mourning loved ones who died in jail. Numerous news stories have reported on the crisis within jails where suicide is the leading cause of death, and denial of medical care is often associated with custodial deaths.

At one county jail outside Texas, attempts of suicide tripled within three years, but the same story is told in many U.S. counties. Why is that? Issues suggesting denial of appropriate medical care and mental care seem to dominate when exploring the details of what happened before inmates took their own lives. Inadequate staffing is a problem, too, with many jails failing to provide required inmate supervision for at-risk prisoners. The combination of desperate, suffering inmates and negligent oversight has proved to be a deadly one.

The mother of a 25-year-old who committed suicide in a county jail outside Texas shares her devastation. Her daughter was mentally ill and had taken medication for depression and hyperactivity, which stabilized her. When she ended up in jail, the nurse there denied her the medications.

The young woman called her mother three times in one day, filled with rage because she couldn’t get the medications she needed. The mom reached out to her daughter’s probation officer, who gave assurances that the jail was monitoring the 25-year-old.

The next day was Thanksgiving and the ninth day the young woman had been in jail, and her mom got the news that she had committed suicide by hanging herself, never having received the needed medications.

Learn more about the custodial death crisis across the U.S. in this continuing series.

The posts on this site are provided as helpful resources for current and former Texas inmates and their families. There is never an intention to suggest improprieties on the part of any persons or entities.

–Guest Contributor