Federal Lawsuit Filed Against Menard County Sheriff's Office After Jail Inmate Commits Suicide

MENARD – The Menard County Sheriff's Office has been hit with a federal lawsuit after an inmate committed suicide in his jail cell.

Michael Kozletsky, 42, was arrested on May 14, 2020 following a crash investigation. Kozletsky was transported to a local hospital to have blood draw and allegedly refused medical treatment.

Kozletsky was transported to the Menard County jail. 

According to attorney Dean Malone, Michael Kozletsky was arrested and booked into the Menard County jail. Due to how Michael was acting, jailers chose not to complete the intake booking requirements. The Texas Commission of Jail Standards (TCJS) has a one-page form that it requires all jails to complete for a person being booked-in.

The form explores primarily mental health issues to determine whether a person is suicidal. The Menard County jail did not complete the form for Kozletsky.

Michael Kozletsky said at the time of his arrest that his whole life was over and even said “I’m done” and that he would be dead the following day.

Even though Michael said that he would be dead the day after intake, the jail only put him on a 30-minute watch. The requires the jailers to view Kozletsky in his cell once every 30 minutes.

Further, Kozletsky was not provided suicide prevention clothing and was instead issued standard jail clothing. He also had another clean set of jail clothing in his cell along with a blanket and bedding. Also in his cell were two towel hooks where you could hang towels or clothes after taking a shower.

Unfortunately, Kozletsky hung himself using the hooks and jail issue clothing less than one day after he was booked into the Menard County jail.

After Kozletsky’s death, the TCJS found the Menard County jail to be non-compliant with the minimum standards and it was determined that the jail staff were not conducting the 30-minute welfare checks as required.

The Menard County jail also has not received suicide prevention training since 2018 and the suicide screening form was not completed for Kozletsky. It was determined by the TCJS that the Menard County jail staff were exceeding hour-long welfare checks on inmates.

Last week, a federal lawsuit was filed on behalf of the Kozletsky family. This lawsuit claims that the Defendants violated Michael’s constitutional rights to reasonable medical/mental health care, to be protected, and not to be punished since the inmate has not been convicted of anything. They are also entitled to be protected from known suicidal tendencies.

Constitutional rights lawyer Dean Malone represents the family. Mr. Malone said, “Our law firm sees far too many jail suicides across Texas, and Michael’s death was preventable. There is absolutely no excuse for putting a suicidal inmate into a cell, with clothing, bedding, phone cords, or other things with which the person can commit suicide by using items as a ligature.

Further, since it takes only approximately three minutes to commit suicide through use of a ligature, only continuous monitoring of suicidal inmates will result in saving lives. Jails must also comply with minimum requirements set forth by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards. These requirements are meant not only to protect inmates, but also jail employees.