Bexar County Jail has state’s worst record for suicides since 2009

Since September 2009, 15 people have killed themselves while in Bexar County Jail — more than any other jail in the state.

In all, 140 people took their lives while in custody at county jails across Texas since fall 2009, when state regulators began tracking those statistics.

In 2009 alone, five inmates killed themselves in Bexar County Jail, a spike that was triple the national average. An independent consultant found that officers weren’t following protocol concerning mentally ill and suicidal inmates, a point of controversy when Sheriff Susan Pamerleau ran for office in 2012.

Pamerleau defeated the incumbent sheriff, Amadeo Ortiz, and took over the jail in January 2013. Since then, five inmates have killed themselves, according to state data.

“That place was a mess when we took it over in 2013,” said James Keith, a spokesman for the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office. “It takes a while to get new practices put into place and to change the culture, and we feel like we’re moving in the right direction.”

Now, every inmate booked into the jail undergoes a mental health screening, Keith said. Those determined to be mentally ill or suicidal are placed into appropriate housing or possibly an outside facility, Keith said. Deputies also give more individual attention to mentally ill inmates, he said.

Bexar County’s most recent jail suicide occurred July 5, when Rodolfo Palafos, 54, used a bedsheet to hang himself, state data show. Palafos had been booked in November on a charge of aggravated sexual assault of a child. He was not on suicide watch and had not appeared to need it, the Sheriff’s Office said. The case is still under investigation, Keith said Sunday.

“You do what you can, and unfortunately, sometimes accidents like that still happen,” he said. “Using the tools and resources that were available, I don’t know that anybody could have predicted that this inmate was going to kill himself.”

Inmates used a variety of methods and tools to end their lives: linens, clothes, blades, guns and plastic bags, as in the reported suicide of Sandra Bland, who died in Waller County Jail three days after being arrested July 10 near Prairie View A&M University.

The international outrage after her death has prompted state lawmakers and law enforcement officials to re-examine jail standards and procedures in a Texas House meeting in Austin last week.

Of the 140 suicides, the overwhelming manner of death was by hanging, according to state records. Inmates used linens to kill themselves in 76 cases, clothes in 21 cases, phone cords or other cords in 18 cases and bags in six cases.

One inmate died after banging his head against the window of a padded cell. In two other cases, inmates used guns to kill themselves, the records show. One inmate killed himself at the end of a high-speed chase after escaping from Parker County Jail, run by a private company. Information on the other shooting death or how the inmate obtained a firearm was not available in the records.

The numbers represent more than a quarter of the 501 deaths in county lockups during the past six years and a fraction of the approximately 1 million bookings that occur in the state’s 240-plus county jails. Experts say the numbers show the challenges jailers face when inmates decide to try to kill themselves and can fashion a noose out of any piece of cloth lying nearby.

“If an inmate wants to take their life, they’re going to find something in that cell, a towel, clothing, even a trash bag,” said Adan Muñoz, former head of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards. “Who would have thought someone would use a trash bag to commit suicide?”

One of the issues jailers face is that in general population cells, there are multiple points that inmates can use to tie homemade nooses to, said Brandon Wood, the commission’s current director.

Inmates at most jails have items that could easily be used as nooses: jail uniforms and undergarments, towels and bedsheets, and in the winter, blankets, he said.

“What is issued in the cell is secondary to properly identifying an individual that may have suicidal ideations,” he said. “After reviewing deaths in custody over the last few years, we keep identifying lapses in observation and proper screening.”

Most county jails across the state have “rubber rooms,” or small cells specifically designed to hold inmates who could be a danger to themselves or others. The rooms are padded and empty, and inmates are often placed in them naked or wearing “suicide-resistant” smocks or gowns, Wood said.

Since Bland’s death, regulators have been reviewing state policies regarding use of trash cans and plastic bags. They also sent a memo to sheriffs across the state on the lengths of phone cords, which inmates have also used to hang themselves.

But many inmates who arrive in jail aren’t obviously or actively suicidal, leaving jailers forced to screen them for possible mental health issues and determine if they may be a possible risk for suicide. Experts say that work should be done by specially trained jailers or medical professionals.

“A lot of times, we’re not dealing with people who are actively suicidal, but need to do preventative maintenance and keep people from falling into that abyss,” Wood said.