But Fraraccio\u2019s case is not an isolated incident \u2013 rather, an all-too common issue that occurs with inmates experiencing mental health issues, said Krish Gundu, founder of nonprofit advocacy group Texas Jail Project.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe routinely lock people up like Shawn,\u201d Gundu told KERA News. \u201cWe criminalize them for the intellectual and developmental disability in the state of Texas. There is a pattern of practice to push people like him into the criminal legal system.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/kera-2-1-1024x684.webp\")
A jail cell at the Tarrant County Jail in Fort Worth, pictured in 2024.\u00a0(Yfat Yossifor | KERA News)
\nFraraccio\u2019s case<\/p>\n
Bridgman fought to get Fraraccio\u2019s case dismissed but was told by the sheriff\u2019s office there was probable cause to keep him in custody because it was a charge related to violence. When her efforts to dismiss the charge didn’t work, she said she tried to find ways to get him transferred to a living center that offers support to those with developmental disabilities, like\u00a0My Health My Resources of Tarrant County<\/a>, or MHMR.<\/p>\n Bridgman said she was told there were more than 50 other inmates like Fraraccio waiting for a spot in one of these facilities \u2013 and would take more than nine months to get him transferred.\u00a0<\/p>\n Court records also show he was found incompetent to stand trial in May 2025, meaning he could not understand the charges against him but would remain in jail until he could be transferred to a mental health facility.<\/p>\n But Bridgman said she couldn\u2019t leave him there and turned to the Texas Jail Project for help. The nonprofit jail advocacy group receives and files complaints about facilities across the state to the jail commission.<\/p>\n From there, the issue recieved the attention of County Commissioner Alisa Simmons, who brought Fraraccio\u2019s case up during a commissioners court meeting last month.<\/p>\n Bridgman also spoke at that meeting during public comment, begging commissioners to help transfer Fraraccio and expressing her concern about his mental and physical health.\u00a0<\/p>\n She said he had lost nearly 100 pounds since he was taken into custody and had bruises from hitting himself when she went to visit him.<\/p>\n \u201cPlease don\u2019t let my son die in jail,\u201d Bridgman told commissioners through tears. \u201cHe needs care, not a cage.\u201d<\/p>\n Shortly after, Bridgman said she was told her son would be moved to a mental health facility within the next month.<\/p>\n Simmons celebrated Fraraccio\u2019s transfer the day he was transferred, saying these kinds of practices in the jail are not fiscally responsible or socially acceptable.<\/p>\n \u201cThe delay in transferring Fraraccio to an appropriate care facility highlights a broader failure in how systems respond to individuals with significant intellectual and developmental disabilities,\u201d Simmons said in a statement.<\/p>\n Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn said during April\u2019s commissioners court meeting the county needs to ask how they can offer support to people with IDD.<\/p>\n \u201cThe older they get, the more the gap widens, the more difficult it takes for the parents,\u201d Waybourn told commissioners.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd the police, they’ve got very narrow path and that’s how they end up in jail,\u201d Waybourn said.<\/p>\n Jail system challenges<\/p>\n Fraraccio is not the first person with an intellectual and developmental disability that had this experience in Tarrant County.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/kera-3-1024x683.webp\")
Alisa Simmons, Tarrant County Commissioner Precinct 2, listens to a speaker during a commissioners court meeting. (Yfat Yossifor | KERA News)<\/p>\n