The family of Eugene Ethridge Jr., 33, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit Tuesday against the Fort Bend County jail (lawsuit attached). The Fort Bend County jail has an atrocious record of failing to prevent suicide of inmates. September 29, 2015 Fort Bend County jail inmate Heriberto Correas committed suicide by hanging. The Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) investigated and wrote a letter directly to Fort Bend County Sheriff Troy Nehls. The short, to-the-point October 15, 2015 letter (see attached) stated--in the first sentence--that “an area of concern exists.” That concern was failure to do the 30-minute face-to-face inmate visual contacts required by state law. As a result, the TDCJ classified the Fort Bend County jail as “At Risk” and was required to submit a plan to prevent reoccurrence.

Tragically just over two weeks after receiving the At Risk letter, on November 3, 2015 the jail again failed to do the TCJS-required inmate rounds causing the suicide death of Eugene Ethridge, Jr. According to three witnesses Eugene had been ringing the medical help bell for an hour with no answer. Video revealed a jailer failed to do his rounds which would have likely saved Eugene. After investigation the TCJS again found that the Fort Bend County jail had failed to do state-mandated rounds (see attached). Mr. Ethridge’s family filed a lawsuit that Fort Bend County's suicide prevention jail practices and customs caused Eugene Ethridge’s death. Hare v. City of Corinth, Miss., 74 F.3d 633, 636 (5th Cir. 1996) (en banc).

"This is one of the worst failures of a jail system I have seen," said civil rights attorney Randall Kallinen, "Even when Texas made needed changes after Sandra Bland the Fort Bend County jail failed to change."

The Ethridge family and their lawyers will speak about the case at press conference:

DATE: September 20, 2017 at 1:00 pm

PLACE: Federal Courthouse, 515 Rusk, Houston, TX 77065 (by front door)