On Friday morning, January 25, 2019, a Waller County, Texas prisoner attempted to commit suicide. The Waller County jail is the location where Sandra Bland committed suicide. We posted about a recent Texas Commission on Jail Standards inspection of this jail within a few days prior to the latest prisoner’s attempt to commit suicide –
The prisoner was taken to an area hospital, and we are unaware of the extent of his injuries. We will post more information about the suicide attempt once we receive it.
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.
Bexar County Courthouse, Texas (Photo: Labeled for reuse)
At Bell County Central Jail in Belton, Texas, prisoner Eli Gauna Jr., age 23, attempted to commit suicide on January 1, 2018. Bell County Correctional Officers were advised that Gauna was hanging inside of a jail cell. They went to the cell and provided medical assistance. He was then transported to Baylor Scott and White Emergency for further medical treatment. The injuries are serious, and his family was notified about the suicide attempt. Gauna had been incarcerated for less than 48 hours before the incident. The Texas Rangers are investigating the attempted suicide. The Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) will also conduct an investigation, to determine whether minimum jail standards were being upheld at the time the incident occurred.
Suicide attempts can obviously do serious harm very quickly. On October 19, 2017, 27-year-old Anthony Luna hung himself in the booking unit of Bexar County Jail in Texas. Deputies quickly intervened, and Luna was hospitalized at Metropolitan Methodist Hospital. Unfortunately, he died two days later, on the 21st of October.
During investigations into custodial deaths and attempted jail suicide, jail records are carefully studied. One of the things that is always checked by investigators with TCJS is whether welfare checks of prisoners were being conducted as required by Texas law. When a person is in a holding or detox cell, per TCJS standards, there should be checks every 30 minutes at the least, for example. Members of jail staff have been held accountable for failing in these types of responsibilities.
As with every post on this website, we are only providing information in this post and do not make any allegation or assertion that anyone acted inappropriately or engaged in misconduct.
Smith County, Texas, Courthouse (Photo: Labeled for reuse)
The prisoner who attempted suicide in Smith County Jail in Tyler, Texas, on November 8, 2017, has been identified as 44-year-old Quincy Butler of New Orleans, Louisiana. When he was being booked into the jail, Butler answered questions in a way that put him on suicide watch. Usually, people who are at risk for attempting to kill themselves are not kept alone in a cell. Butler was also deemed to be a danger to others, however, and for that reason was segregated from the other prisoners, according to the sheriff’s office. At about 1:25 p.m. on the 8th, a detention officer discovered Butler hanging inside his cell. He was immediately cut down and given emergency medical attention from jail staff and then Emergency Medical Services and the Tyler Fire Department. Butler was then transported to a nearby hospital, where he remains.
Butler was arrested by the Tyler Police Department less than a week before his suicide attempt.
In June 2017, a 21-year-old prisoner died in Smith County Jail. Carlos Jose Hernandez, Jr. was discovered hanging from shower in a side cell. He had also been placed on suicide watch because of some of his answers to questions at the time of booking. Like Butler, he was also segregated from the rest of the prisoners. Hernandez had been observed sleeping at 12:11 a.m. before being found hanging at 12:20 a.m.
The Texas Rangers handle jail suicide investigations, and the Texas Commission on Jail Standards does inspections to determine whether the jail staff followed minimum standard procedures.
As with every post on this website, we are only providing information in this post and do not make any allegation or assertion that anyone acted inappropriately or engaged in misconduct.
