Frederick Inea Regal
Frederick Inea Regal, 40, was a father whose family described him as caring and said he had been improving before a relapse; a relative remembered him as fun-loving, a friend and big brother to his children who always made them laugh. He was held at Elmwood Correctional Facility in Santa Clara County, where the county says jail staff found him hanging from a bedsheet in his cell in August 2020. He was taken to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center and died there on August 5, 2020. His children sued the county, alleging it was deliberately indifferent to his mental health needs; in 2025 a federal jury found the county not liable, and the county has said his death was not foreseeable or preventable.
Cause of death, as reported: Died by suicide (disputed; neglect alleged). Santa Clara County says Regal died by hanging from a bed sheet and that his suicide was not foreseeable or preventable; his children's federal civil rights suit alleges the jail showed deliberate indifference to his mental health needs and failed to provide adequate suicide prevention.
Reported by: Santa Clara County (the agency that held him); Regal's children, plaintiffs in a federal civil suit (family or their lawyers); federal jury.
Lawsuit: His three children sued Santa Clara County in federal court over his death, and a federal jury found the county not liable.