Sanda Bland, 28, died July 13 in an East Texas jail cell following an arrest stemming from a traffic violation, during which she became agitated at a Texas state trooper -- believing he did not have sufficient cause to stop her and used unnecessary force during her arrest. Photo:
Sandra Bland/Facebook
PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas, July 22 (UPI) -- An Illinois woman arrested for a traffic violation in Texas earlier this month -- who later turned up dead in her jail cell -- acknowledged a previous suicide attempt to officials during her booking, but those officers apparently didn't take the required steps to ensure her safety there, documents revealed Wednesday.
Sandra Bland, 28, was arrested in the town of Prairie View, Texas, on July 10 for a moving violation, authorities said. Three days later, jail guards found her dead, reportedly hanging in her cell with a trash bag wrapped around her neck.
On Wednesday, Sheriff R. Glenn Smith told ABC News that jailers said Bland had told them about a previous suicide attempt.
Authorities, who have promised transparency in the investigation, later released a handwritten note penned by Bland herself, in which she self-reported a suicide attempt earlier this year after losing a baby -- as well as noting that she felt "very depressed" on the day of her arrest. Bland wrote the remarks on a suicide screening form used during the booking procedure.
Later, however, a computerized "medical intake" form completed during the booking indicated the opposite -- as it answered 'no' next to a line that read, 'attempted suicide?'
Bland's self-reported answers on the document should have triggered notification to the magistrate and a local crisis center, according to recommended guidelines from the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, the Washington Post reported. This, however, was apparently not done.
Intake forms, which are standard at jails, are intended to identify potential mental or medical risks to an inmate and seek to ensure proper assistance is provided for their safety.
The Texas Commission on Jail Standards reported Wednesday that the Waller County jail had not been compliant in properly performing suicide deterrent procedures -- and that employees there had not undergone the required annual training to process inmates with such mental health risks.
"This training is to include the recognition, supervision, documentation and handling of inmates who are mentally disabled and/or potentially suicidal," the report states.
Another deficiency at the jail was also detailed in the TCJS's report -- one that requires jail workers to make face-to-face welfare checks on suicidal inmates at least once an hour. Instead, the Post's report said, those checks were made non-visually by intercom.
The commission urged the Waller County Jail to "give these areas of noncompliance your serious and immediate consideration" in taking corrective action. It adds that "failure to initiate and complete corrective measures ... may result in the issuance of a Remedial Order."
The TCJS's inspections were triggered by Bland's death, and the Waller County Jail was inspected on July 16 -- three days after she died, the commission's report said.
The Bland family's attorney, in an earlier news conference Wednesday, had said he wasn't yet in a position to respond to questions about a prior suicide attempt.
Bland's death has sparked controversy and accusations that state Trooper Brian Encinia stopped the woman because she was black -- an accusation, though, her family has not yet made. Authorities have said Bland was stopped because she did not signal a lane change.
"He pulled her over because she was an out-of-state resident," Sharon Cooper, Bland's sister, said in the ABC News report.
Sheriff Smith's office has already denied the allegation of racial profiling.
Bland, a native of Illinois, had only been in Texas for a short time -- having just moved there to take a job at Prairie View A&M University, northwest of Houston. She previously lived in the state when she attended the school as a undergraduate.
Meanwhile on Wednesday, authorities released a "corrected" version of dashboard camera video of Bland's traffic stop. The Texas Department of Public Safety said a previous version contained a technical glitch, leading some to suspect the first video may have been edited.
The corrected version of the video is three minutes shorter, the Los Angeles Times reported, but appears to show a continuous, uninterrupted record of the arrest. Officials said the glitch on the first video resulted from uploading it to YouTube, the Times report said.
"[The first] video was not edited," a spokesman for the Texas DPS said. "The entire video was uploaded Tuesday to include the audio and video of the conversation the trooper had by telephone with his sergeant, which occurred after the arrest. Some of the video was affected in the upload. That technical issue has now been resolved."
Bland's family on Wednesday expressed anger at Encinia's actions seen on the videotape -- which shows him forcefully remove the woman from her car and place her under arrest.
Encinia has been assigned to administrative duties pending the outcome of an investigation, but the director of the Texas DPS told the Washington Post Wednesday that the trooper violated the agency's traffic stop procedures.
"Regardless of the situation, the DPS state trooper has an obligation to exhibit professionalism and be courteous," Texas DPS Director Steve McCraw told the Post. "That did not happen in this situation."
Below is a copy of the standard inmate forms that are created when an inmate is booked into the jail facility. The Sheriff's Office has received numerous request for the release of the following documents:
Posted by Waller County Sheriff's Office on Wednesday, July 22, 2015
