Report: Female Gregg County Jail inmate on suicide watch killed herself

A female Gregg County Jail inmate was on suicide watch this past week when she killed herself inside the facility, according to a report filed with the state.

Ashley Elizabeth Maxwell, 43, of Dallas was booked May 24 on charges of criminal trespass and resisting arrest, according to jail records. She was pronounced dead days later.

A custodial death report filed with the Texas Attorney General’s Office shows an initial autopsy reported her manner of death as suicide. The report shows she hanged herself “in a cell that housed 3 other inmates.”

Although the report lists Maxwell's date and time of death as 11:08 p.m. May 27, a Facebook post made May 27 by the Gregg County Sheriff's Office said she was found unresponsive at 10:45 p.m. May 26.

Maxwell was placed on suicide watch when she was booked into jail, “where she remained for the jailing due to her having a documented history of mental illness and drug abuse,” the report states.

A jailer doing an unscheduled floor walk at about 10:40 p.m. May 26 found Maxwell hanging by her neck against the front metal grate of her cell, according to the report.

“Maxwell used the cell’s television cable wire to form a makeshift noose, and she secured the wire and noose to the heavy wire mesh cell wall that made up the front wall of the cell,” the report states. “The cable extended from the ceiling, down to an area low enough to allow Maxwell to climb the steel mesh wall to reach the noose, and high enough to allow her body to hang from the noose with feet off of the floor.”

Maxwell secured the cable and noose by threading it through the mesh and making a knot that took the weight off the ceiling wire receptacle and allowed the cable to support her weight, according to the report.

The jailer who found Maxwell called for assistance and, with other staff members, was able to remove her from the cable. Jail staff placed Maxwell on the floor and began performing CPR.

Staff then called EMS, who responded and took Maxwell to a local hospital where she was pronounced dead at 11:08 p.m. May 26.

According to the report, Maxwell exhibited mental health problems and was receiving treatment in the jail before her death. Texas Rangers investigated the death with assistance from Gregg County Sheriff’s Office.

Maxwell’s death was the second in less than a month of a Gregg County Jail inmate.

On May 4, a woman who had been in the Gregg County Jail for more than three years on a murder charge died after having “a medical emergency,” according to a statement released that day by Sheriff Maxey Cerliano.

The inmate was later identified as Latoddra Quenice Pratt, 27, of Dallas. She was pronounced dead just after 5 a.m. on May 4 at a Longview hospital after being taken from the jail, according to a custodial death report filed with the Texas Attorney General’s Office.

Pratt had been in the jail since April 9, 2019, on a murder charge in the 2014 shooting death of Tyson Laquay Patterson at an apartment on South Green Street in Longview.

At about 2:30 a.m. on the day of Pratt’s death, other inmates in her Gregg County cell found Pratt “in need of medical attention” and summoned jail staff, the document shows.

Responding staff found Pratt “lying in her bunk, having labored breathing,” according to the document. “Pratt was unresponsive to verbal and physical stimuli, and her pupils were found to be constricted, and unresponsive to light.”

Her vital signs were found to be “very low.”

Pratt, who the document shows had a history of hypertension, obesity, depression and anxiety, was taken to a local hospital. While waiting for EMS to take her to the hospital, Pratt was put on oxygen, “as her oxygen levels were found to be low,” the document said.

At the hospital, Pratt remained unresponsive and was pronounced dead by an emergency room physician at 5:03 a.m., according to the document.

Following protocol, the Texas Rangers were called to investigate. Pratt’s body was sent for an autopsy.