County Gets $56,000 Bill After Inmate Suicide Try

Fayette County got a big bill in the mail for an inmate who tried to hang himself in the County Jail last year. The bill for $56,000 was for the inmate’s helicopter flight to Dell Seton Hospital in Austin.

Commissioners disputed the bill at a meeting last Wednesday, arguing that the inmate, who was wanted for a crime in Jefferson County, shouldn’t have even been in the Fayette County Jail when the incident happened.

Last May, the inmate in question was arrested by the U.S. Marshall’s Service in Winchester. He had been charged with online solicitation of a child and sexual performance by a child under age 14. Those offenses allegedly took place in Jefferson County. The Record reported on the incident back in May. The Fayette County Sheriff’s Office said at the time that the man was working for a carnival that was laid up at its wintering grounds in Winchester due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“While that intimate was here for Jefferson County, he attempted suicide in our jail,” assistant county attorney Blake Watson said at the meeting at the meeting last Wednesday.

The inmate suffered a massive cardiac arrest as a result of the attempted hanging. Fayette County jailers and EMS staff saved the man’s life, but he required an AirEvac helicopter flight to Dell Seton Hospital in Austin.

“We’re trying to work out with Jefferson County a way for both of us to pay for the medical expenses that were incurred,” Watson said.

Watson said the Fayette County Auditor’s Office sent the bills to Jefferson County.

“Essential, Jefferson County shut us out and sent those bills back, saying ‘he’s your inmate, he’s under your care and he’s your responsibility,’” Watson said.

The total bill for the helicopter flight from AirEvac was $56,848.30.

“He was not our inmate,” Watson said. “It was not our warrant. It was a Jefferson County warrant and we had him on a temporary hold.”

“We have a responsibility to save anyone’s life anytime we can, and I thank the EMS crew for doing that and the jail for responding the way they did to prevent a loss of life,” said Fayette County Judge Joe Weber.

However, both Weber and Pct. 3 Commissioner Harvey Berckenhoff asked why the Marshall’s Service didn’t transport the inmate to the Jefferson County Jail in Beaumont after his arrest.

Chief Deputy Randy Noviskie said that in most cases, fugitives are initially housed in the counties where they are arrested.

“Unbeknownst to us, (the Marshall’s Service) picked him up without a problem,” Noviskie said. “They dropped him off at the jail and said Jefferson County would be here in a few days to pick him up. By law, they have 10 days to pick him up.”

Noviskie said Fayette County could not legally transport him to Jefferson County because the law gives inmates the right to request bond.

“We can’t just put him in a car and run him over to Jefferson County,” Noviskie said. “It doesn’t work that way.”

The man had been in the jail four days when the suicide attempt happened. The man’s hospital bills amounted to over $400,000. It remains unclear who is responsible for the hospital bill. The Fayette County Jail officially discharged him on a personal recognizance bond the day after he arrived at the hospital.

“From that point on, he should be responsible for his bill,” Noviskie said.

Noviskie said the man was in the hospital for several weeks before being transported to Jef ferson County to face the criminal charges.

“Our office will continue to dispute that we’re responsible for his hospital stay,” Watson said.

The bill for the helicopter flight, however, could fall on Fayette County. Watson said he negotiated with AirEvac, who agreed to cut the bill in half, which would amount to over $28,000. If Fayette County paid half, he said AirEvac would release Fayette County from further liability for the flight.

Fayette County EMS Director Josh Vandever offered to speak with AirEvac leadership, saying the company might be “sensitive to the political ramifications of charging a county $30,000.”

In the meantime, Weber asked Watson to speak with his counterparts in Jefferson County about possibly covering the bill.

“Tell them that we know we’re responsible by law for this, but are you willing to help us out?” Weber said. “You’re sitting on a county with 260,000 people and probably have more resources than we do.”

Berckenhoff also asked county staff to look into whether the county could obtain insurance to cover inmate helicopter flights.

Commissioners deferred action on paying any of the inmate’s bills while staff gathers more information.