Published: Wed, 08/03/22
Star Telegram
By Nichole Manna
A Fort Worth church has asked the Tarrant County Commissioners Court to open an investigation into the 43 deaths that have occurred at the county jail since 2017.
Three members of Broadway Baptist Church, who make up the church’s Justice Committee, spoke during Tuesday’s meeting. They are the second group in two months that has expressed concerns to the commissioners court about abuse inside the jail and have called for an independent investigation.
In May, criminal justice advocates protested after the Star-Telegram shared the story of a mentally ill woman left the jail covered in saucer-sized bruises suffered during her 10-day stay in the facility. She was taken to John Peter Smith Hospital with little brain activity, her family has said.
Katherine Godby, Broadway Baptist’s justice committee chairperson, said the group analyzed data given to them by the Texas Jail Project and read previous Fort Worth Star-Telegram coverage about deaths at the jail to get a better understanding of what’s happening inside the jail. That’s when they decided to speak up.
“What we have learned so far is of great concern to us,” Godby told commissioners. “Our faith tells us, bottom line, that everyone without exception is a child of God and deserves to be treated with dignity.”
A representative of the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday afternoon.
Becky Delaune, another member of the church’s Justice Committee, said she knows someone who was in the Tarrant County Jail for four days because of an unpaid traffic ticket and what he told her was concerning.
“While he was there, he received none of his essential life saving medications,” she told the court. “He told me of the blood on the walls and the floors of the holding room, the urine and feces smeared on the wall. He told me of the hateful behavior of some of the guards, the extremely overcrowded cells and waiting for days for a turn to use the phone only to find out the phones did not work.”
As a resident of the county, Julie Griffin, another member of the church committee, said she takes personal responsibility for what happens inside Tarrant County institutions.
“What happens to each person who comes through our jail system is on me, is on all of us,” she said. “There is a problem here, and I believe it’s a situation that cries out for change and at the very least an investigation.”
The Tarrant County Jail has been at the center of controversy since April 2020 when a man died by suicide after jailers failed to check on him properly. The jail lost its state certification for six days because of it.
Then in May of that year, a nonverbal woman gave birth without anyone knowing. Her child died 10 days later.
The next month, three men died within one week, including 28-year-old Javonte Myers, who was left dead in his cell for six hours, according to a state investigation. An autopsy showed that Myers died of a seizure disorder, which his mother told the Star-Telegram he had been taking medication for.
Recently, a former inmate sued the jail and county after three jailers were charged in his 2020 beating, which resulted in him having surgery.
Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley suggested that the women set up a meeting with Sheriff Bill Waybourn, who runs the jail. After the meeting, Godby said the sheriff gave her his card. She intends to call him.
This story was originally published August 2, 2022 4:27 PM.