Elderly Inmate Dies While In Police Custody, Travis County Jail Officials Say

AUSTIN, TX — Travis County Jail officials disclosed on Wednesday that an elderly inmate died after being detained on Saturday — the second person in ten days to die while in custody.

Austin resident Pablo Machin Conde, 81, collapsed at the Del Valle facility on Jan. 7 at about 9:30 a.m. before bring transported to University Medical Center Brackenridge, a Travis County Jail spokeswoman said. Conde was treated by emergency room personnel and place on life support in the intensive car unit, but his condition worsened throughout the day and he was pronounced dead at :57 p.m., the spokeswoman said.

The Travis County Medical Examiner's Office ruled the cause of death to have come from a stroke, and the manner of death to have occurred from natural causes, the spokeswoman, Kristen Dark, said in a news release. She noted that Conde had been arrested Nov. 14 after being accused of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after allegedly stabbing his wife.

This marks the second death of an inmate at the Travis County Jail in just ten days. On Dec. 29, Jacqueline Key, 55, died after being transported to the hospital. The previous day, she alerted Travis County Jail medical staff of her need for treatment, and she was taken to University Medical Center Brackenridge for treatment.

The cause of the death for the woman, who jail officials described as a transient, was not disclosed. According to a news release, the woman previously had been arrested by the Austin Police Department on Nov. 11 after being charged with possession of a controlled substance and another, unspecified city ordinance violation.

Reached by Patch, Dark said four inmates died while in custody in 2016: "We had four," Dark responded in an email. "We house approximately 2,500 inmates in our jails daily, so it's a rare occurrence."

>>> Booking photo of Pablo Machin Conde courtesy of Travis County Jail officials