Tarrant to consider $1.2M settlement to woman whose baby died after she gave birth in jail
Tarrant County commissioners will consider spending $1.2 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit filed on behalf of a woman whose 10-day-old baby died after she gave birth in the jail.
The woman, Chasity Congious, was nonverbal at the time of the birth in May of 2020, according to the lawsuit.
She had been arrested on a probation violation in January 2020 after her family called Fort Worth police because she was mentally distressed. They wanted to have her involuntarily committed at John Peter Smith Hospital, according Jarrett Adams, a New York-based civil rights attorney who filed the lawsuit.
The sheriff’s office said at the time she was prescribed prenatal vitamins, placed on a pregnancy diet and provided a second mattress and blanket. The baby was found during a check of the inmate. Prosecutors filed a motion to drop the charges against the woman a month later.
The lawsuit was filed in February 2022 in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Texas in Fort Worth.
The commissioners will vote on the proposed settlement during their meeting on Tuesday. The settlement agreement was reached following mediation, according to the meeting’s agenda item.
