A troubling increase in the number of deaths at the Dallas County Jail over the last eight years demands a deeper look from county officials and answers from our sheriff.
According to a recent investigative report from our newsroom colleague Tracey McManus, the jail has seen a roughly 50% increase in the death rate during the tenure of Sheriff Marian Brown, with 71 people dying in the custody of the county since 2018.
And this is during a period when the average jail population has been lower.
What exactly is happening here is hard to tell, and from where we sit, there isn’t enough urgency to get to the bottom of the problem.
Opinion
Brown declined to be interviewed for the story. And her written statement that such fatalities are “unfortunate but statistically likely” feels far too cold and unequal to the seriousness of the problem.
McManus made several findings that indicate a need for a review of health care practices in the jail.
First, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic did not explain the increase in the number of deaths. Just four deaths were attributed to the disease.
Second, many of those who died did so on the day they were taken to the hospital. Dr. Chris Beyrer, of Duke Global Health Institute, told McManus that this indicated “people are getting to the hospital very late.”
Some of the causes of death cited were also clearly preventable with proper early treatment.
All of this raises questions about jail protocols that need answers. Dallas County Jail has a huge and capable medical facility on site run by Parkland Health.
So why are so many inmates becoming acutely ill and dying? Is the problem with jailers not doing proper checks? Is it inadequate medical treatment in the jail itself? Is it related to staffing?
We don’t know the answer, and we know Brown isn’t taking questions from the press. So it’s incumbent on the Commissioners Court to start asking.
We raised similar concerns in 2024 about conditions in the Tarrant County Jail under Sheriff Bill Waybourn. At the time, we cited reporting that showed that jail had experienced 60 deaths since 2017.
Waybourn, who last year refused to brief the Tarrant County Commissioners Court, did implement reforms under increasing political pressure. Deaths in that jail have since fallen.
Dallas County has a more monolithic political power structure, unfortunately.
But someone needs to get the sheriff to talk about what is happening on her watch.
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