One Texas jail worker has been fired and two suspended in connection with an inmate who hanged himself Nov. 20, officials said. John Louis Kenney Jr. of Galveston had tried to hang himself with shoelaces in the Galveston County Jail in 1995. He used a belt to hang himself in the same jail in November.

Sheriff Gean Leonard on Thursday refused to release the name of the person fired, saying in an e-mail that the person was not a Sheriff's Department employee. The department has contracts for some services. It could not be determined late Thursday if a contract employee lost a job as a result of the sheriff's investigation.

Leonard said two corrections officers were suspended for five days each. Louis Padric Heck was suspended for "failure to perform physical head count," Leonard said in the e-mail message. Heck has worked for the department for three years, Leonard said. Kendra Harris, a one-year employee, was suspended for "failure to release an inmate from custody as required," Leonard said in the message.