By Eva Ruth Moravec
San Antonio Express-News
SAN ANTONIO, Texas — A Bexar County Jail inmate hanged himself early Monday, becoming the third inmate to commit suicide this year.
Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Linda Tomasini said a guard doing routine checks found Mark Montoya, 22, hanging in his cell by a bedsheet just before 1 a.m.
The guard summoned help and cut Montoya down, according to a department news release. Medical staff conducted cardiopulmonary resuscitation, but Montoya was pronounced dead in his cell at 1:35 a.m.
Montoya was not on suicide precautions but had requested and was granted protective custody, which means a guard would escort him to and from his cell, Tomasini said.
According to First Assistant District Attorney Cliff Herberg, Montoya was indicted on a charge of aggravated sexual assault of a child in 2008 over an incident that took place in December 2007. The victim of the sexual assault, a girl who was then 12, told San Antonio police she and Montoya met on a phone chat line, Herberg said. According to police, the girl asked Montoya to pick her up and the two had sexual intercourse at his grandmother’s house.
Her father saw Montoya drop her off at her home and chased him, officials said. The girl told an acquaintance about the sexual encounter and police were notified.
A grand jury indicted Montoya and he was arrested in April 2008. He was out on bail until he pleaded guilty on Nov. 16 and was sentenced to eight years in jail. The next day, he asked for protective custody, Tomasini said.
“He had requested to be assigned to protective custody because of his charge ... because inmates will find out, particularly in a case of an aggravated sexual assault,” she said.
According to the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, the Bexar County Jail is in compliance with state law. As is policy, Bexar County Jail officials notified the state commission about the death Monday morning.
Five inmates committed suicide in the jail last year. That total was more than three times the national average. As a result of the spike, Sheriff Amadeo Ortiz asked that a national suicide-prevention expert visit the jail and conduct a study to determine which, if any, policies or practices should be changed.
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