Mentally Ill Grandmother Dies In Jail After Being Held There For Five Months On $300 Bond

Janice Dotson-Stephens only needed $30 to be released on bond.

A 61-year-old died in jail after being held there for six months following her arrest on a misdemeanor charge.

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Janice Dotson-Stephens was arrested July 17 for trespassing on private property in Bexar County, Texas. According to court records via KSAT, Dotson-Stephens refused to be interviewed about her case the day after she was arrested, as well as several times after in late July. She also refused to make a court appearance in August and was ordered to go through a psychological evaluation that same month.

Dotson-Stephens ended up dying in the custody of the Bexar County Sheriff's Office Friday. Officials at the office said she appeared to have died from natural causes. She was being held there on a $300 bond. Since most bail bond companies require a 10 percent payment to bail someone out, Dotson-Stephens could have been released for $30.

Family members told KSAT that they weren't aware Dotson-Stephens was in jail and thought she was being treated at a state hospital.

"We just felt that she shouldn't have died as a criminal in the jailhouse," Leticia Dotson, Dotson-Stephens' daughter-in-law, said. "She wasn't a criminal. She had mental health illness."

Dotson said that her mother-in-law had been in previous encounters with the police but she was evaluated and transferred to the state hospital. She also said that none of Dotson-Stephens' family members were contacted.

"If it changed and we had to bail her out before the process of getting her to the state hospital, we would have done that," Dotson said. "She had people who loved her and family who would have easily paid the $30 to get her out of jail if that's what we had to do to take the next step."

Officials for Bexar County said that they couldn't confirm if Dotson-Stephens was diagnosed with a mental health condition and that a next of kin was not listed for her.

In a separate report with Refinery 29, Dotson-Stephens' father said he called the Bexar County Jail looking for her in August, but was told she was not in their custody.

The Sheriff's Office Criminal Investigations Division and the Bexar County Medical Examiner are investigating the death alongside the Converse Police Department, which is involved in the investigation because of the Sandra Bland Act. The act states that the Department of Public Safety has to appoint a law enforcement agency other than the one operating the jail where an incarcerated person's death occurred to investigate the death.

Source: KSAT