Inmate found hanged in Galveston County jail cell • 5th in custody death at jail in 2024 A 54-year-old Texas City man jailed on sexual assault charges was found dead in his cell at the Galveston County Jail early Monday morning. Galveston County Sheriff Henry Trochesset said the inmate had been in the jail on a $500,000 bond since Oct. 1. His name was not released pending confirmation his immediate family had been notified of his death. The inmate was in an 8-person cell, although officials could not confirm how many inmates were in the cell at the time of the man’s death. The sheriff confirmed he was not alone but said evidence thus far points to suicide and not a homicide. The inmate’s death is being investigated by the Texas Rangers and the Galveston County District Attorney’s Office. The state’s agency in charge of regulation of jails was also notified, the sheriff said. The inmate was found in the cell where the communal toilet is located. While the cell is open, a half-wall obscures the view of the toilet from outside. The sheriff said the man was found during a shift change at around 6 a.m. A corrections deputy had just finished a check and saw the inmate in the toilet area. He returned with his shift relief, and when they saw the inmate in the same location, the deputies entered the cell. The sheriff said an unconfirmed piece of cloth was somehow used to affix to a portion of the toilet. There’s no indication that the inmates in the cell with the man noticed or called out to deputies when something was apparently wrong. The inmate’s death is the fifth in-custody death at the Galveston County Jail this year. It’s also the second hanging of an inmate in that time. In January, Rio Shareese Jones, 49, died of kidney failure while in Hospice care at UTMB Health. Jones had been in the county jail for about six months for a parole violation. On February 1, Brittany Nicole Anderson, 32, died shortly after she got into a tussle with corrections deputies when she dashed into a hall in an apparent attempt to escape. Her cause of death was determined to be because of a perforated ulcer that existed before she was jailed on the charge of violating the terms of her release on a child endangerment charge. Her death drew dozens of protestors demanding an investigation into the situation surrounding her death. The medical examiner did not list the physical altercation with deputies as having contributed to her death. Then, 60-year-old Shawn Michael Cleveland died from a suicide by hanging on April 25. A few days before his death, Cleveland was on a work detail at the county courthouse when he attempted to escape by taking a county golf cart during a trustee detail. On Sept. 11, Saul Vargas died after he was stunned by a Taser during an altercation with correction deputies. Vargas had been in the jail for 8 days on burglary charges. None of the investigations has reached a conclusion, and no credible indication of wrongdoing by corrections deputies has been revealed.

Posted by i45NOW at 2024-10-14 23:29:05 UTC