BELL COUNTY, TX — A federal lawsuit has been filed against the Bell County Jail and its contract medical providers after an inmate committed suicide.
According to the lawsuit, filed by constitutional rights lawyer Dean Malone on behalf of the inmate's family, Eli Guana was arrested and taken to Bell County Jail. Guana had been to the jail before and the jail was aware of "severe mental health issues."
The lawsuit said that a nurse had placed Guana on suicide watch after her interview of him. Guana was placed in the general jail population over isolation by a jail social worker.
The lawsuit stated that Guana had "indicated that he attempted to kill himself" several times before and always had a "plan."
Guana used a bed sheet in his cell to hang himself and was not discovered for over 10 minutes. Guana was taken to a hospital and taken off life support, where he died a month later.
"Too many prisoners in Texas county jails are dying as a result of suicide," said Malone. "The Sandra Bland incident brought attention to this issue, and some changes have been made. However, when jail personnel are faced with a prisoner with a significant history of suicide, and who expresses a plan to kill himself, jail personnel must take immediate action. Unfortunately for Eli, that did not happen. Hopefully, the filing of this lawsuit will lead to further changes in Texas jails.”
It is unclear when Guana committed suicide, but the lawsuit was filed by the family on March 20.
KXXV has reached out to the county for comment.
