After the death of a 30-year-old man in a Texas county jail in 2019, the Texas Rangers eventually became involved and conducted an investigation. Ultimately, in connection with the man’s death, six nurses at the jail were indicted by a grand jury on manslaughter charges as well as knowingly falsifying medical records and criminally negligent homicide. The following are among the facts that were found in the custodial death report:

• The inmate had breathing issues when booked into the jail. Records show that he received a breathing treatment in the medical unit at the jail for 20 days.
• Then, a doctor at the jail sent the inmate to a hospital in an ambulance because of the inmate’s oxygen level.
• When the man arrived at the hospital, he stopped breathing and was resuscitated by the staff at the hospital.
• Less than one month after being incarcerated, the man died at a different hospital from the original one he was transferred to.

In news coverage about the arrest of one of the nurses at the jail, who was a contract worker, it indicates that the nurse failed to maintain adequate and proper medical records. For example, the inmate was receiving a nebulizer treatment but the nurse allegedly failed to specify anything about his illness or the particular drug administered to him.

See Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5 of this ongoing series.

The purpose of this website is to assist inmates at city and county jails in Texas and their families. There is never an intention on this site to suggest impropriety of any kind on the part of an individual or institution.

–Guest Contributor