A 78-year-old inmate, Ronald David Neal, died Sunday after suffering a medical emergency at the Travis County Jail that authorities say may have been linked to a gastrointestinal bleed. This marks the second in-custody death at the facility this year. Neal died at Dell Seton Medical Center after corrections officers and jail medical staff responded to his cell earlier that morning. The cause of death remains unknown pending an autopsy.
According to the custodial death report and sheriff's office, a corrections officer noticed Neal had defecated on himself and that his stool appeared black, prompting a call to medical staff around 9:30 a.m. Two nurses began treatment and contacted 911. Neal was taken to Dell Seton at 10:08 a.m., where hospital staff advised jail officials that he had suffered a gastrointestinal bleed. He was pronounced dead at the hospital at 11:03 a.m.
The custodial death report lists aggravated assault-family violence and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon-family violence among the charges filed against him. The report also indicates that Neal exhibited mental health problems while in custody, though it does not provide additional details. Sheriff's office officials declined to answer questions about the nature or severity of those issues or whether Neal had been housed in the jail's mental health unit.
Court records show Neal was arrested after an incident at a residence in South Austin on May 31. According to an Austin Police Department arrest affidavit, officers accused Neal of threatening multiple family members and children with a handgun during a dispute over relatives helping his wife’s daughter move out of his home. Witnesses told police Neal pointed a firearm at several people and made threats, while Neal told officers he intended only to fire into the ground to scare people off his property. Prosecutors ultimately filed seven counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon stemming from the incident.
The Travis County Sheriff's Office said investigations by its Internal Affairs Unit, Criminal Investigations Division, the Texas Rangers and the Travis County medical examiner's office are underway, as is standard procedure following deaths in custody. Neal's death is the second reported in-custody death at the Travis County Jail this year. Another inmate died after suffering a medical emergency in April.
The medical examiner conducted an autopsy on Neal on Monday. The final autopsy report is not expected to be completed and released for at least three months.