Inmate death likely jail’s fourth suicide in month

An inmate who died Friday at the Bexar County Jail appears to be the fourth suicide at the facility in a month, officials said.

The unidentified 41-yearold man was found alone in his cell, the Bexar County sheriff ’s office said in a statement. He had been held since 2013 on a variety of charges that include aggravated assault on a public servant.

Another inmate killed himself last week, a third the week before and a fourth the week before that. The three earlier deaths occurred when the inmates used bed sheets to hang themselves, the San Antonio ExpressNews reported.

Sheriff Susan Pamerleau said at a news conference Friday that steps have been taken to prevent further suicides, such as increasing the number of checks on inmates and adding supervisors to shifts to ensure inmates are properly monitored.

Detention officers “care deeply about the job that they do,” and the deaths take a toll on them, she said.

“It’s a tough job, and it’s difficult every single day,” Pamerleau said. “So they feel it when something like this happens.”

The inmate found Friday was being held in a part of the jail designated for highrisk violent offenders. Two of the inmates who died earlier were facing capital murder charges, and the other one was jailed on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. None of the three who died earlier was under a mental health watch that would require closer monitoring, according to the newspaper.

The jail houses about 3,800 inmates, Pamerleau said. She added that hundreds are monitored because of some level of concern that a suicide might be attempted.

University Health System, the county-owned public health care system, is contracted to provide medical and mental health services to county inmates.

“We are obviously concerned about the recent suicides and are evaluating our current practices to determine if any changes should be implemented,” system officials said in a statement. University Health spokesman Don Finley referred questions to the sheriff ’s office.