The jailhouse death of Chicago native Sandra Bland has triggered new legislative hearings on jail suicides in Texas.

ABC News reports Democratic Sen. John Whitmire will oversee the committee handling the probe. The 28-year-old Bland was found hanging in her Waller County cell by a garbage bag in early July, after being arrested during a routine traffic stop just days earlier.

At the time of her death, Bland was in the process of moving from Illinois to Texas to work for her alma mater, Texas Prairie View A&M.

During this week's announcement, Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick avoided referring to Bland by name and insisted not one death prompted lawmakers to take their current course of action.

Whitmire begged to differ.

"There's no question that Ms. Bland's tragedy has led us to this point," he said, adding that he has yet to determine if Bland's family will be invited to take part in the hearings. Some family members continue to cast suspicion over her death being ruled a suicide.

Sources indicate Texas has seen an average of 25 suicides in county jails each year since 2012. There have been 29 suicides this fiscal year, including Bland.

Authorities have already admitted Waller County officials failed to properly supervise Bland during her time in custody, and that jailers had not received the additional mental health training they were supposed to. Bland indicated on a questionnaire that she had previously attempted suicide.

Bland's family has since filed a wrongful-death lawsuit that seeks unspecified damages and names the trooper who first stopped her as a defendant, along with the Waller County Sheriff's Office and two other jailers.

Reports are nearly half of jail suicides in Texas occur during the first week of custody and that half of those occur within the first 36 hours.