I like you would say no to this invitation, maybe even Hell NO! Pero about a month ago I attended the Chorizo and Menudo breakfast meeting, and I was invited to visit the jail. To be honest Tarrant County Sheriff Wilburn made the blanket invitation to all in attendance.
This was partly in response to questions and some harsh criticism from some of my fellow Chorizo and Menudo enthusiasts. I confess that due to published reports of possible civil rights violations. And a what seemed like unusual l number of deaths in Tarrant County Jail I was also concerned. And as president of a local Latino civil rights organization, I had more then a passing interest.
However, I also have never been one to lay blame without at least trying to get as many facts as I could. Which would allow me to make an informed decision on how to proceed on my concerns. Now to be clear that does not mean that I fault anyone for asking questions or even criticizing if they feel it is deserved. Pero as for me I decided I would take the Sheriff up on his invitation and kinda see for myself.
So that following Monday, I called the jail and got directed to the right person to set up the tour and answer some of my questions. And in a ‘The more the merrier mood” I decided to invite some other community folks including some that were at the C&M Breakfast with me. By the day of the tour, we were eight people strong and ready to go!
A Little History
Before I got to our visit, just a little history of the Tarrant County Jail. The first jail was just a small two room building in 1860. The Fort Worth population at that time was right under seven hundred souls. Unfortunately, a year later they were already overcrowded and in 1861 commissioners approved the construction of a new jail. Once completed it boasted a 100-inmate capacity and was considered a modern facility for its time.
Today
Today the jail has a 5,000-inmate capacity spread over five facilities, but still there is overcrowding. So much so that recently hundreds of prisoners have been moved to other jails around the state. According to reports those prisoners are awaiting placement in state facilities as they have already been sentenced. The state facilities are also overcrowded which causes a delay and a bottleneck at local levels. According to a report on KERA News the contract cost for housing those inmates is eighteen million. Given all these factors it is easy to think, ‘No wonder there is problems. At least that is what I thought.
Our Visit
Once you enter the building you immediately get the sense of this is real. For me even the visitor waiting room had a feel of gloom and looking around I saw no happy faces. Our guide for the day was Officer David Nunn and his title is Administrative Housing Officer.
First stop was an upstairs meeting room for a little Q&A with our group. Most of the questions were of the administrative kind although I could not resist asking whether a knee to the neck is an acceptable restraint method. His response was a no-nonsense NO. My question stemmed from the recent death of Anthoney Johnson. A video was recently released that showed Detention Officer Morenos’ knee on Johnson. Which is another story to tell another day.
The Tour
I do not know about my fellow tour folks but, I felt weird looking at people that are in a cell. It felt like we were dehumanizing these people even further. They have already lost their freedom and for some even hope. And here comes a group of people that can be anywhere but chose to be here, to look at them. I almost wanted to say to them, I am here because I care about your welfare. But you are not allowed to engage with inmates. Still one young man looked at me and asked, “Can you get me out”? I looked at him and shook me head. End Part 1 Next Week, The Booking
By A. Govea