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Tarrant County ranked fifth in highest number of in-custody deaths in Texas last year. (Courtesy | Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office\/ Screenshot)<\/p>\n
Tarrant County Jail saw a decrease in jail deaths last year \u2014 but one county commissioner raised concerns about current inmates and their treatment while in custody.<\/p>\n
Sheriff Bill Waybourn briefed commissioners on the jail\u2019s 2025 statistics, reading from an annual jail report released by the Tarrant County Sheriff\u2019s Office in January.<\/p>\n
Tarrant County Jail had six deaths last year \u2013 the lowest number in years and what Waybourn said is a 64% reduction in deaths since 2020.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s been 73 deaths at the jail since 2017, according to the sheriff’s office \u2014 the same year Waybourn took office, although the number of in-custody deaths annually has gone down. Of those, 52 were due to medical or natural causes. Waybourn said the jail has increased its medical staff and always have a doctor on site.<\/p>\n
The year 2020 had the most with 17 deaths, but Waybourn said 11 of those were due to COVID-19. The county ranked fifth in custodial deaths last year.<\/p>\n
Tarrant County ranked fifth in highest number of in-custody deaths in Texas last year. (Courtesy | Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office
\/ Screenshot)<\/p>\n
Waybourn said although he knows there\u2019s been \u201ca lot of public discussion\u201d about jail deaths, the jail has been working on several improvements to how it operates.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don’t think anybody in this room knows the date and time that they’re exiting this world. And we don’t have the ability to resurrect people. But I will say this — I think John Quincy Adams said it the best, it is our duty to do, and God’s got the results. So we’ve set the table for some incredible medical upgrade in Tarrant County Jail. And I think will be the model at this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Commissioner Alisa Simmons said she still gets \u201cway too many calls\u201d from people who have family members in custody and are concerned about a lack of medical or mental health treatment. She said she\u2019s received at least three different calls since Friday from concerned families.<\/p>\n
Simmons told Waybourn she\u2019s not trying to do his job, but residents need him to be more accessible.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just trying to help these people,\u201d Simmons said. \u201cThat’s what I was elected to do. It’s hard to sleep when you hear stories like this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tarrant County and Waybourn have\u00a0faced scrutiny<\/a>\u00a0from the public several times throughout the years over\u00a0its jail deaths,<\/a>\u00a0with\u00a0details from specific cases<\/a>\u00a0raising concerns from families and advocacy groups. Most recently,\u00a0Texas Jail Project<\/a>\u00a0joined others at the county courthouse March 1 demanding justice for people who have had a family member die in custody at the county jail.<\/p>\n The most recent death<\/a>\u00a0was 40-year-old Shuntae Broadus, who was found unresponsive in her cell Dec. 21.<\/p>\n Broadus was transported to John Peter Smith Hospital, where she died later that day. Her cause of death is still pending, but a custodial death report sent to the Attorney General\u2019s office indicated Broadus may have had mental health problems.<\/p>\n This is the first time\u00a0since last September<\/a>\u00a0Waybourn has attended a commissioners court meeting to give a briefing related to jail deaths. In September, he told commissioners he would not take part in any more briefings about jail deaths called by Simmons, who has criticized the jail in the past and called for more accountability amid deaths.<\/p>\n