SAN ANTONIO – The Bexar County Sheriff's Office is investigating after a male inmate was found dead inside his cell Thursday.
When Jack Michael Ule, 63, was found unresponsive in his unit at the Adult Detention Center, BCSO said deputies and medical staff began performing life-saving measures.
Around 8:30 a.m. Thursday, Ule was pronounced dead by the detention medical staff.
"Preliminarily it appears that ongoing health issues may have been a factor, however, a definitive cause of death will be determined by the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office," BCSO officials said. "Foul play appears to have not been a factor in this incident."
Ule had been in BCSO custody since April 4 on a $500 bond on suspicion of criminal trespassing on private property, a class B misdemeanor charge.
For Ule, a $50 payment would have likely been all it took to release him on bond.
"In my opinion, this inmate should not have been in jail. The Adult Detention Center should not be used to house the mentally ill or those who simply cannot afford to pay their way out," Sheriff Javier Salazar said.
"I will continue to work with District Attorney Joe Gonzales and Judge Nelson Wolff on a long term fix," he said.
"Should have never been there, should have never been there. This has now happened twice," Judge Wolff said Thursday afternoon.
He said as recently as February he asked county court at law judges to adopt a policy calling for no bond on low level misdemeanors.
"They didn't do it. They refused to do it. And here we have another death," said Wolff, who added that it appears Ule was homeless.
Ule has only been arrested once in Bexar County, which was the criminal trespassing charge, according to online records.
Records released Thursday afternoon show that Ule was arrested April 4 after entering University Hospital without the consent of hospital staff.
According to previous KSAT reports, Ule is at least the third inmate this year to die while being housed at the Bexar County Jail.
Public records show Ule is from the Cleveland, Ohio area.