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March 22, 2023 – A man died of an apparent suicide on Tuesday inside the Harris County Jail.
 
Detention officers found Fabian Cortez, 41, unconscious at the Joint Processing Center in a restroom at 2:32 p.m., after apparently hanging himself with a drawstring from his clothing.

He had arrived at the facility hours earlier, after being arrested by the Harris County Precinct 5 Constable’s Office on felony charges of continuous sexual assault of a child and child pornography.
 
Detention officers immediately began life-saving efforts with CPR, and Cortez was taken to the jail clinic where medical personnel took over while awaiting an ambulance.
 
Cortez was taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital by a Houston Fire Department ambulance and was pronounced deceased by doctors at 3:29 p.m.
 
The apparent suicide is being investigated by the Texas Rangers in compliance with state law that requires all jail deaths to be investigated by an outside law enforcement agency. An autopsy is being conducted by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences to determine the cause of death.