Category: County Jails|Custodial Death|Suicide

Daniel Ray Monroy was booked into Grayson County Jail in Sherman, Texas, on November 17, 2021. On February 9, 2022, jailers were called to his cell because he was seen hanging by his neck from a vent. A cut down tool was used to get Mr. Monroy down, and he was placed on the bunk of his single cell. Life-saving measures were applied, but Mr. Monroy was pronounced dead at 5:44 pm on February 10, 2022.

Mr. Monroy’s death, shockingly, is the sixth known custodial death that has occurred in a Texas county jail in February 2022 alone. Under Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 49.18, custodial death reports must be filed within 30 days of an inmate’s death. Therefore, it’s possible that more have occurred but simply have not been filed with the Office of the Attorney General (OAG).

February 2022 Texas County Jail Custodial Deaths

On February 4, Zachary Daniels, age 22, died an inmate of Fort Bend County Jail in Richmond, Texas, of apparent suicide. He was discovered with a ligature around his neck that was also tied to the cell door’s bars.

On February 9, Jared Jon Bell, age 32, died an inmate of Travis County Jail in Austin, Texas. He wrapped a phone cord around his neck to commit suicide.

To be continued in this ongoing series.

This website has no intention of implying that persons or institutions have participated in wrongs. The posts on this site are meant to benefit from previous and former inmates who have been detained in county jails in Texas.

–Guest Contributor

Prevention of custodial suicide is among the crucial responsibilities of city and county jails. A county jail outside of Texas is currently under scrutiny due to recent custodial suicides. In August, a 38-year-old inmate was found lifeless in his cell 10 minutes after officers reportedly had a chat with him. The officers’ attempts to revive the Inmate were unsuccessful.

When the inmate had been admitted into the jail, he was wearing a bandage that was wrapped around an injury he had before his arrival at the jail. It was the bandage that the inmate used to commit suicide.

The deputy in charge of oversight at that jail said that the facility had taken “so many steps” to attempt to safeguard the inmates in their care. He said that when someone is absolutely determined to take their own life, the prevention of custodial suicide can be extremely difficult. He further said that, under most circumstances, jail staff would not remove a medical device such as an Ace wrap because it would interfere with medical care that the inmate was receiving.

See this ongoing series to learn more about suicide at the county jail in question.

Inmates have constitutional rights that must be upheld. For instance, they have the right to be protected against cruel and unusual punishment. In addition, jails must provide inmates with a minimum standard of living.

This post is provided as a helpful source of information for detainees and former inmates in Texas city and county jails and their families who believe that their civil rights have been violated. It is not intended to imply that actions of wrongdoing have occurred on the part of any entity or individual.

–Guest Contributor

The Liberty County Sheriff’s Department, in Texas, filed a custodial death repot with Ken Paxton, Attorney General of Texas, regarding the death of Cristian David Sarmiento.  Mr. Sarmiento was only 36 years of age at the time of his death.  Information in this post was obtained from that report, and we make no allegation of any wrongdoing against anyone regarding Mr. Sarmiento’s death. 

Mr. Sarmiento was originally incarcerated in the Liberty County jail at approximately 2:07 p.m. on August 4, 2019.  On September 12, 2019, Mr. Sarmiento attempted to commit suicide in the jail.  Mr. Sarmiento had apparently used a sheet tied to a vent above the interior of the entrance door to the cell in which he was incarcerated.  Mr. Sarmiento passed away as a result of the suicide attempt.

Suicide in Texas jails is a far too common occurrence.  It appears that the Liberty County jail has had significant issues attempting to bring itself into compliance with Texas law.  It has been found to be non-compliant, by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, on more than one occasion.

The United States Constitution guarantees the right of pretrial detainees, who have been convicted of nothing, to be protected from themselves and others.  If Texas jailers violate the Constitution, and someone dies as a result,  those jailers can be liable to certain surviving family members pursuant to federal law.

The Potter County Sheriff’s Department filed a custodial death report with the Attorney General of Texas regarding the death of Daniel Luis Martinez.  Information in this post was obtained from that report, and we make no allegation of any wrongdoing.

Mr. Martinez was allegedly initially incarcerated at the Potter County Jail on April 23, 2018.  On May 1, 2018, at approximately 10:30 p.m., Mr. Martinez was found apparently having committed suicide by hanging.  The custodial death report indicates that Mr. Martinez did not appear intoxicated by drugs or alcohol, did not exhibit any mental health problems, and did not exhibit any medical problems.  However, the custodial death report indicates that Mr. Martinez had made suicidal statements.

Texas County jails have a constitutional obligation to protect inmates from themselves if the inmates have known suicidal or self-harm tendencies or have made statements or taken actions indicating that they have such tendencies.  This protection is provided to pretrial detainees under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.  Thus far, we are unaware as to whether Mr. Martinez was on suicide watch.  If so, the jail should have, among a number of other things, removed from his cell items with which he could harm himself.  The jail should have also continuously monitored Mr. Martinez to assure that suicide did not occur.  Perhaps news media will ferret out these issues and/or the Sheriff’s Department will provide more information to the public about what it knew about Mr. Martinez and what it did in response.

On or about Sunday, October 1, 2017, in the morning, a Coleman County jailer was in the jail’s cell area near a single cell.  Inmate Derrek Monroe allegedly became upset and starting hitting a phone against a table in the cell.  Mr. Monroe then allegedly hung himself using the phone cord.  There was only one jailer in the jail at the time of the incident, and he apparently did not assist Mr. Monroe.  Instead, he contacted the Sheriff, the jail administrator, and the on-duty deputy.  Once the jail administrator arrived at the jail, the on-duty jailer entered the cell and attempted life-saving treatment.  It was too late.  Mr. Monroe was transported to one hospital, then later transferred to another hospital in Abilene, (Taylor County) Texas.  Mr. Monroe passed away the following day.

All of the information we obtained in this post was obtained from a custodial death report filed by the Coleman County Sheriff’s Department with the Texas State Attorney General.  Therefore, we do not have personal knowledge of any of the facts asserted in this post beyond what we read in the report.  Further, we make no allegations as to whether anyone did anything wrong.  Pretrial detainees, and convicted inmates, have rights under the United States Constitution to reasonable medical care and to keep them from harm, whether inflicted by themselves or others.