A deputy at the Bexar County Jail checks in on inmates using a digital system meant to improve accountability. Credit: Courtesy Photo / Bexar County Sheriff's Office

Editor’s note: This story was updated to include a comment from the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office.

A former Bexar County Jail inmate has filed a federal lawsuit alleging guards at the facility kept open the door of his holding cell, allowing other inmates to enter and give him two separate beatings.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in San Antonio, accuses the county of negligence and violating the civil rights of the plaintiff, Richard Robert Lee Gomez, who alleges the assaults took place Jan. 7, 2023. Gomez’s complaint doesn’t specify how much he’s seeking in financial compensation.

The Bexar County Sheriff’s Department referred questions on the suit to the District Attorney’s Office. In turn, the DA’s office said via an unsigned email that its officials don’t comment on pending litigation.

Gomez’s petition asserts that three other inmates entered a holding cell in which he was sleeping then gave him a severe beating. Later, the same trio accessed the cell again and gave him a second thrashing. “The plaintiff maintains that the holding cell door was either opened by the detention guards on duty” or inattentive guards “allowed the assaulting inmates to access the equipment that controls the holding cells,” the legal filing claims.

Further, the suit alleges that jail personnel failed to provide immediate medical attention to Gomez even though he suffered painful injuries including a brain bleed and fractures to his face and a rib.

“The detention guards did not provide medical treatment to Mr. Gomez until the next shift of jail personnel who saw his grave and bloody condition and transported him to University Hospital,” the filing states.
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This article appears in Jan 8-21, 2025.

Sanford Nowlin is editor-in-chief of the San Antonio Current. He holds degrees from Trinity University and the University of Texas at San Antonio, and his work has been featured in Salon, Alternet, Creative...