A county jail is currently under increasing scrutiny over custodial deaths, which have been occurring at an alarming rate. Since mid-2018, there have been seven custodial deaths. In the past 16 years, a total of 51 inmates died in the jail. Wrongful death claims are among the growing list of complaints. There is continued difficulty in obtaining any type of cooperation from the county jail or the sheriff’s office, but a U.S. Attorney’s Office has recently been asked to investigate custodial deaths at the county jail.

Three custodial deaths, in particular, have lately been in the spotlight. One occurred in 2018, one in 2019, and the latest this past summer. Specifics are known about each of these custodial deaths, in spite of the uncooperative stance of the sheriff’s department.   

Details of a 2019 Custodial Death at the Jail

Videos related to the death of a man who died in the county jail in 2019 have been scrutinized, their contents having been made available. The man is apparently in pain and is seen collapsing. For more than seven hours, the man pleads with the jail staff to send him to the hospital. The inmate said he was unable to breathe, a statement that medical staff and deputies at the jail have admitted they heard. Yet, nothing was done to help the man. What the jail staff did, instead, was to move the man into a padded room. He died there.

In this continuing series, learn more about custodial deaths that occurred at the same county jail.

The constitutional duties of county and city jails in Texas are required to be upheld. If any unconstitutional practice, policy, or custom are found to have caused an inmate suicide or any kind of custodial death, the jail can be sued.

As with every post on this website, we are only providing information in this post and do not make any assertion or suggestion that any institution or individual acted inappropriately or engaged in misconduct.

–Guest Contributor