By A. Govea
Most people dislike talking about bad or ugly stuff; they would rather ignore it. I am kind of the same, except I am not. Now, if I don’t take any action on an issue I have been made aware of, I feel guilty, and I have always felt that “If you can, you should.”
Upon hearing about all the problems at the Tarrant County Jail, that was the case. However, as with most problems, there is what you see from the outside looking in and what you see from the inside. So, as I wrote earlier, when I heard the Sheriff offer an invitation at the C&M Breakfast to visit and see for yourself, I thought to myself, ‘Well, there it is, time to put up or shut up.’
The Bad
The jail has a capacity of about 3,000 folks, which I understand is about 1,000 short of what is needed. The staff, which is reportable, is about 1,000 folks, and that is not enough. This leads to most people having to work at least sixty hours a week just to hold the line. Those two issues are enough for anyone with common sense to know something bad is going to happen. Eventually.
After all, we are all human, and we sometimes get on each other’s nerves. Especially if you are forced to live together 24/7, now, for most, it would be easy to say well, it is up to the paid staff to keep the inmates in line. And, of course, for the most part, you would be right. Pero, what if some of the people you want to keep in line have mental issues, addiction issues, or in the part of their life that is, “I just don’t care”?
They don’t care about themselves or the other inmates and for sure don’t care about the staff. This will manifest into verbal abuse, throwing body waste at you and spitting in your face. Be honest here: would you sign up for this at any price? I know I wouldn’t. Our guide shared he has experienced all this personally.
The Ugly
As noted above, given all the factors I just wrote about, it is basically a powder keg, and sooner or later, bad things are going to happen. Which has led to lawsuits in the past that included violating the rights of inmates with mental illness in 2012. In 2017, a group of inmates sued who alleged that they were subjected to excessive force by jail staff.
More recently, the family of Anthoney Johnson Jr. has sued Tarrant County jailers Rafael Moreno, Joel Garcia, and ten other unnamed detention officers. I think most have seen the video that shows Moreno with his knee on Johnson after he was pepper sprayed, which forced commissioners court to hire outside legal counsel for Moreno at a cost of $280.00 an hour. Mr. Johnsons’ sister is seeking the release of the full video that shows the full episode of what led to her brothers’ deaths.
Another recent lawsuit was brought due to the fentanyl overdose of Trelyn Wormley. The suit alleges that the county has a de facto policy that allows drugs and other contraband into the jails.
Then there is the case of Chasity Congious, who was jailed in January 2020 on family assault charges. According to published reports, Ms. Was pregnant, and the officers were aware and checked on her condition regularly. Despite this, she gave birth without the staff becoming aware, which kinda seems hard to believe. Once they found out, the mother and baby were taken to the hospital, where, tragically, the baby died. This resulted in a lawsuit being filed and an eventual award of 1.2 million to Ms. Congious in 2024.
Her case was one of the ones that was at the top of my mind when we visited the jail and asked about her. I think that most people, myself included, felt that this was a case of possibly criminal negligence. However, according to our tour guide, Ms. Congious was in a special cell within the eyesight of a monitoring desk. Again, according to our tour guide, Ms. Congious suffered from mental instability and did not alert staff about the birth. He showed us how, with her back turned, it would be hard to see a baby in the cell. Is this true? I don’t know, but I do know, as with most stories, there are usually two sides to every story. He also went on to say that shortly after she won her lawsuit, she came in again on similar charges.
According to published reports, 63/65 inmates have died in county jail from 2017 to April 2024. There were 11 deaths due to COVID-19, 32 natural causes, three accidental, and four fentanyl overdoses. Six were suicides, 1 was a shootout with U.S. Marshalls, and one was a homicide. Of course, all of this has come to the attention of the media, which has caused some shock to our population. I say some because there are some that would rather just turn away or say well, maybe they deserve it.
The Good
County Commissioner Alisa Simmions has asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the deaths at the county jail. U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey has also called the death a distressing pattern. In addition, other groups have expressed a need for investigations. Some have called for Sheriff Wayborn to resign and be replaced with someone who will do a better job.
My thoughts on all this are that the jail staff have an extremely hard job, and no one enjoys receiving any kind of abuse. Given the circumstances, I think many of the folks there do a good job under conditions most of us would reject. However, as I wrote in the first of this series, it should never be okay to put your knee on anyone to restrain. And while our tour guide agreed, it still happened and possibly worse. In addition, I asked for the restraint protocol and did not receive a clear answer. This is a problem; maybe I was unclear or did not fully understand. Either way, some issues must be addressed.
A big one is we must find a way to better deal with people with mental health issues that really do not belong in jail. Along with other issues, of course, Pero is a big one that contributes to many other issues. All this said, I am glad I accepted the sheriff’s offer to visit the jail; I feel better informed now. Armed with this, I plan to request a meeting with him and some of his key staff. I hope it will happen and plan to report back to you. If not, I will let you know so maybe, with your help, we can get it done. (On a side note, two days after my visit, I caught Covid, luckily all better now)