Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office responds to claims about jail conditions, addresses deaths
The Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday responded to claims three women from Broadway Baptist Church made during the commissioners meeting about conditions at the jail.
The three women from the church’s Justice Committee were the second group to come to the commissioners court with concerns about the jail. Reports in the Star-Telegram on jail deaths and data from the Texas Jail Project inspired them to speak out, they said.
The Star-Telegram reached out to the Sheriff’s Office for comment after the meeting Tuesday, and the office provided a response Wednesday afternoon.
In a three-page statement, the Sheriff’s Office addressed claims made by one woman about blood and feces smeared on jail walls and how a friend was booked into the jail for four days without knowing why and without having access to a working phone (eventually the friend learned it was because of an unpaid traffic ticket, she said).
The release also addressed jail deaths and subsequent investigation procedures.
“Has there ever been blood or feces smeared on the wall of one of our jail cells? Of course,” the release said. “Every day Tarrant County Jail Detention Officers deal with people who have mental health issues who might do these things. As soon as it happens, we get it cleaned up and we move on. But to say those bodily fluids were on a jail cell wall for more than an hour is unlikely.”
The release states that the jail doesn’t accept anyone arrested for traffic charges and that all inmates are seen by a judge or magistrate within 24 hours unless they’re mentally unable to participate.
“There must be a serious crime committed on top of those tickets for that person to be booked into the jail,” the statement reads.
Inmates are registered to use the phone during the intake process, according to the sheriff’s office. At the Lon Evans Correctional Center, where inmates are housed individually in cells, a phone is wheeled over to them, the sheriff’s office said. An inmate might have to wait to use a phone if they are being moved, because of business in the jail or if the phones are under repair, the release said.
“Detention Officers do everything in their power to maximize inmate access to phones because we understand how important it is for them to maintain ties with their family, attorney or to secure their release through a bond company,” the release said.
When reached for comment Wednesday, Becky Delaune, who spoke about the holding for a traffic ticket at the meeting, said she and the other women were careful when addressing the court.
“There was nothing that we said that was not true,” she said.
By law, the commissioners courts meetings must include public comment. Residents have recently complained about the Family Courts system, the state Department of Family and Protective Services and the Medical Examiner’s Office.
“As you know, the Tarrant County Commissioners Court is NOT a court of law,” the Sheriff’s Office release reads. “The time allotted for public comments is an open mic and as long as someone who wants to speak signs up beforehand, they can get up to the podium and say whatever they want. They are not sworn under oath to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.”
In response to the ticket claim, the office said the woman was passing along hearsay.
“Not one of these claims made by the speaker were verified beforehand,” the release continued. “If she or someone else can give Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office staff the inmate’s name and the specific dates he was booked into the jail, this office will investigate those allegations and will either confirm they are true… or more likely prove them to be false.”
Since 2019, 41 people at the jail have died in custody. The release states that most of those deaths occurred at John Peter Smith Hospital and involved pre-existing medical conditions that they couldn’t elaborate on because of HIPAA laws.
Nearly 140 people have attempted suicide at the jail, and the release stated that those attempts were lives saved because officers followed their training.
The release detailed what the office called a lengthy investigative process for every death that occurs in custody.
“▪ Tarrant County criminal investigators, Tarrant County forensic investigators.
“▪The shift commander is tasked with reviewing and preserving all logs and camera footage and looking for failed protocols.
“▪The District Attorney’s Office is notified.
“▪The Texas Rangers or another outside agency conducts an independent investigation.
“▪If the inmate was known to have mental health issues, the Mental Health Authority reviews the case.
“▪JPS medical staff does a full round-table peer review on the inmate’s health condition and medical action taken in the case.
“▪The medical examiner makes the final call on the cause of death and reviews the case.
“▪The Texas Commission on Jail Standards gets the full packet and reports and conducts a review of the case.
“▪And finally, the Attorney General’s Office gets the case for review.
“When it comes to deaths in custody, with all these eyes and hands touching each case, never has it been found that a TCSO Detention Officer has been directly responsible for a death,” the sheriff’s office said. “In the cases mentioned where some protocol fails to occur, officers have been disciplined, terminated and even prosecuted. It’s also important to note that the average homicide that occurs in Tarrant County does not receive the amount of attention or investigation that a death in custody does. We take the health and well-being of our inmates very seriously. If/when there is a death in custody, we take the necessary steps to minimize the chances of those circumstances being repeated.”
This story was originally published August 3, 2022 at 4:09 PM.
