Travis County sued over jail inmate suicide

According to a federal lawsuit filed in late December, an inmate of the Travis County jail who was on suicide watch killed himself in the jail in 2022. Attorney Dean Malone filed suit against Travis County on behalf of the family of Jared “J.J.” Bell, who was taken from a hospital to jail on outstanding warrants, according to a news release from Malone. Jared’s brother had taken him to the hospital to get help because Jared was “experiencing psychosis and self-harm tendencies.” The man was on suicide watch at the jail but requested to use a telephone. The news release says Bell “was left alone for nearly an hour to use a phone that had a lengthy cord. Jared used the lengthy metal phone cord as a ligature and died by suicide.”