{"id":987047,"date":"2026-08-07T15:58:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T15:58:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/987047\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T15:58:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T15:58:16","slug":"bexar-county-jail-crisis-needs-san-antonio-county-partnership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/987047\/","title":{"rendered":"Bexar County jail crisis needs San Antonio, county partnership"},"content":{"rendered":"

The humanitarian\u00a0crisis at the Bexar County jail<\/a> takes many faces.<\/p>\n

It can be seen in Verne Freeman, who died\u00a0covered in his own feces<\/a> in 2023 after spending 11 months in the jail\u2019s mental health unit waiting for a\u00a0state hospital bed.<\/p>\n

It can be seen in Francisco Salinas, who died from complications of diabetes and substance abuse<\/a> in April 2024 after he spent more than 48 hours in a temporary holding cell, a\u00a0violation of state jail standards.<\/p>\n

It can be seen in Alexandra Gedminas, who was detoxing in her cell when she died in December 2021<\/a> after she allegedly fell out of her bed multiple times and hit her head. We say \u201callegedly\u201d because\u00a0there was never an independent investigation into her death<\/a>, a violation of the Sandra Bland Act.<\/p>\n

It can be seen in Andrea Nicole Garcia, who died in the jail\u2019s open booking area<\/a> in September 2024 while she waited for a cell. A heroin addict, she was never placed in a\u00a0detox unit. A deputy rushed to save Garcia only after she turned purple.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

As these deaths show, the issues at the Bexar County Adult Detention Center, where 92 people have died while in custody since 2020<\/a>, are complex and run deep. There is no singular fix for the jail’s many challenges. A full response will require a variety of new investments and policies that can only work if Bexar County and the city of San Antonio set aside past differences and become partners in jail diversion and ending double magistration.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not that we don\u2019t appreciate Bexar County commissioners on Tuesday approving enhanced early medical screenings at the entrance to the jail, the creation of a medical cohort with round-the-clock nursing, 24\/7 ambulance service and a public-facing jail dashboard. These are welcome changes. But they are marginal if double magistration persists and the community lacks a diversion program that keeps some people from ever entering the jail.<\/p>\n

This crisis deserves more than half measures.<\/p>\n

End double magistration<\/p>\n

The most significant reform\u00a0Bexar County commissioners approved Tuesday<\/a> is to provide enhanced medical screenings before people enter the jail.<\/p>\n

A modular building will be installed in the jail\u2019s sally port staffed with eight registered nurses from University Health.<\/p>\n

From there, people with medical needs or who are at risk of\u00a0detoxing will be placed in a special cohort with 24\/7 nursing supervision. The idea is to begin medical screenings within minutes of arrival at the jail, as opposed to waiting hours.<\/p>\n

This makes sense. County officials analyzed jail deaths since 2020 and found 44% of people died within seven days of entering jail, while 37% of the deaths were deemed \u201caccidental\u201d due to detoxing or some combination of drug use and cardiovascular disease.<\/p>\n

\"Verne<\/p>\n

Verne Freeman died in the Bexar County jail naked and covered in feces while waiting for a bed at the San Antonio State Hospital. He had been in the jail for nearly 11 months.<\/p>\n

Bexar County Sheriff’s Office<\/p>\n

Early screenings and medical supervision might have made a difference for Garcia,\u00a0Gedminas or Salinas. But the enhanced medical screenings also underscore the absurdity of double\u00a0magistration.<\/p>\n

\"Andrea<\/p>\n

Andrea Nicole Garica died in the jail’s open booking area in 2024 after detoxing. Enhanced medical screenings and 24\/7 nursing supervision, which Bexar County is adding to its jail, may have made a difference.<\/p>\n

Couresty Bexar County Sheriff’s <\/p>\n

As we have chronicled<\/a>, people arrested by San Antonio police officers go to a city facility on\u00a0Frio Street, about seven blocks from the jail, for initial processing. They are held there for four to six hours before going to the county jail to be processed again.<\/p>\n

This redundancy dates to 2018 when the county opened its Justice Intake & Assessment Annex<\/a>, despite city concerns about its design and size.<\/p>\n

Bexar County Jail Tracker:<\/strong> See data on in-custody deaths, jail population and inmate housing cost in other counties.<\/a><\/p>\n

Double\u00a0magistration undercuts the county’s goal of providing medical screenings within minutes because anyone arrested by San Antonio police will wait for hours before being taken to the jail. Of the 50,000 people booked through the Justice Intake & Assessment Annex in 2025, 29,000 were arrested by San Antonio police officers.<\/p>\n

This poses an ethical \u2014 and perhaps legal \u2014 challenge. Imagine two people are arrested for the same crime, criminal trespass. One person is arrested by a suburban police officer and receives a screening within minutes of being brought to the jail. The other person is arrested by a San Antonio police officer and receives the same medical screening, but only after waiting six hours at the city\u2019s detention facility.<\/p>\n

Until double magistration ends, to keep things equal, San Antonio will need to contract with University Health to ensure people arrested by the city police receive identical medical screenings within minutes of being brought to detention.<\/p>\n

Or double magistration could end.\u00a0City officials, staring down a massive budget deficit<\/a>, have plenty of incentive to get out of the detention business. The city spends roughly $5 million per calendar year on detention, including 42 personnel. There is an opportunity to save money or at least deploy some of these officers elsewhere.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

In a bid to end double magistration, Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar has made the case to convert a deputy training center near the jail into an intake center that would address the city\u2019s concerns. He has given multiple tours of the building, and he has said city officials are interested.<\/p>\n

We find this possibility interesting, too. Done right, it could end double magistration while also freeing space at the jail for better medical and mental health facilities. But this plan will take years. The building needs major renovations, and the deputy training center would need to move.<\/p>\n

Here is a better way: Launch a pilot program this year to begin unwinding double magistration. Choose the least-busy day of the week and have San Antonio police officers take arrested people to the jail on that day for three months. See what issues arise. Have faith people can resolve these issues.<\/p>\n

Local officials have the power to end double magistration. For years, they have chosen not to.<\/p>\n

Fund diversion<\/p>\n

One way to prevent jail deaths is to identify people who shouldn\u2019t be in jail.<\/p>\n

\"Steve<\/p>\n

Steve Huerta, executive director of All of Us or None Texas, speaks during a press conference calling for reforms at the Bexar County jail in response to a spate of deaths.<\/p>\n

Katina Zentz\/San Antonio Express-News<\/p>\n

Think of people accused of low-level nonviolent offenses that are often rooted in substance abuse and mental health issues. People such as Gedminas or Garcia.<\/p>\n

In their analysis of jail deaths since 2020, county officials determined 73% of the people were ineligible for diversion due to the charges against them. That’s one reason for enhanced medical care at the jail. But this also means 27%, or about 25 people, were eligible for diversion.<\/p>\n

Not only is diversion a policy that could reduce jail deaths, but it has the potential\u00a0to reduce recidivism as well as the overall jail population.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

A true diversion and deflection center offers treatment, stabilization, services and a path toward housing. There is a national model, just down the road at the Judge Ed Emmett Mental Health Jail Diversion Center in Houston<\/a>, where officers drop off people before there is ever an arrest. Here in San Antonio, the Center for Health Care Services has a proposed pilot program ready to go.<\/p>\n

That program would be in partnership with the San Antonio Police Department, limited to the city center and focused on people accused of low-level nonviolent offenses such as criminal trespassing. The cost would be about $300,000 a month.<\/p>\n

Bexar County, the city of San Antonio and University Health should fund this.<\/p>\n

Of the many lessons to be learned from the jail\u2019s death toll, one is how complacency comes at a tragic cost.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Bexar County Adult Detention Center, where 92 people have died while in custody since 2020, is frequently strained to capacity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bob Owen\/Staff photographer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The humanitarian\u00a0crisis at the Bexar County jail takes many faces. It can be seen in Verne Freeman, who…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":987048,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5133],"tags":[5229,7245,395758,395759,7202,7203,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-987047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-america","tag-bexar-county-jail","tag-double-magistration","tag-jail-diversion-center","tag-san-antonio","tag-sanantonio","tag-texas","tag-tx","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117055059657779282","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/987047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=987047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/987047\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/987048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=987047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=987047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=987047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}