https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/fort-worth/article266442421.html
When members of Broadway Baptist Church met in August with Sheriff Bill Waybourn, they had one primary goal: To understand why at least 46 people have died in Tarrant County Jail since 2017.
The church members brought a list of requests, including that the sheriff find ways to ensure inmates get their medications and their families are notified during emergencies or deaths.W
It was a cordial meeting that included open and frank discussions,” Katherine Godby, the chair of the church’s justice committee, said after the Aug. 22 meeting.
Robbie Hoy, a spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Office, said in a statement that the meeting went well. A month later, the church committee has followed up with a letter to Waybourn that acknowledges the jail has made some changes in procedures.
The Sept. 23 letter also reiterates their other requests aimed at improving communication and transparency with inmates’ families. “We listened very carefully on August 22 and we understand that it is extremely difficult to run a jail,” the letter says. The number of deaths “points to something terribly wrong and, obviously, to the need to find a solution that will prioritize the care and safety of all incarcerated persons.”
Godby said Thursday that she hadn’t heard yet from the Sheriff’s Office regarding the letter, but that she wasn’t sure when it will be delivered.
‘Great concern to us’
In early August, Godby and two fellow members of her church committee spoke about jail conditions at a Tarrant County commissioners meeting, saying they had read Star-Telegram coverage of inmate deaths and analyzed data from the Texas Jail Project.
“What we have learned so far is of great concern to us,” Godby told the commissioners. “Our faith tells us, bottom line, that everyone without exception is a child of God and deserves to be treated with dignity.”
After she spoke, Waybourn told her he would meet with the church members.
The meeting included five representatives of Broadway Baptist, including Senior Pastor Ryon Price; seven members of the Sheriff’s Office; someone from JPS Health Systems; and county Judge Glen Whitley.
The church made seven requests of the Sheriff’s Office, starting with a memorandum of understanding between the jail and JPS to include specific protocols, standards, expectations and accountability for delivery of medical health care to inmates.
Ideally, the church requested that the memo require:
▪ A medical release form to be completed by the inmate in the intake process naming family members or loved ones to receive medical and mental health information, and ensure those people are informed of emergencies.
▪ An intake officer to obtain any existing medical power of attorney held by a family member, loved one or guardian.
▪ Notification of death to family or loved ones within eight hours.
▪ Notification to family or loved ones of health emergencies such as seizures, heart failure, attempted suicide, hospitalization, serious illness or injuries and sedation, within a reasonable time of up to eight hours.
▪ A “quality of life concern” form online for families to use, similar to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office. The form was created to allow families to voice concerns about an inmate’s access to medical or mental health care, food, sanitation, visitations and religion.
▪ Creation of a jail client advocate position for each county commissioner precinct. The advocate would coordinate with the Sheriff’s Office and its medical liaison, and help inmates navigate resources for re-entry back into the community after releases.
Godby said that the Sheriff’s Office has started to include a medical release form on the tablet incarcerated people use in the jail.
“We are appreciative of this step,” Godby said. “We are still concerned about effective communication of the process to inmates during intake and in the Inmate Handbook, and will continue to advocate for communication to families.”
Hoy said in an email statement to the Star-Telegram: “Broadway Baptist Church members did suggest a medical release form be made available for the inmates to fill out at their convenience after they are housed. Even though inmates have always been screened and asked to supply emergency contact information when they come in the back door, adding the additional form is another avenue for them to share information. After the form was created, our jail team reached out to the church and thanked them for the suggestion.
“We will continue to review our processes and work hard to keep our facility in line with jail standards,” Hoy wrote. “The upkeep of our facilities, our team members and the care of those in our custody is always a priority.”
The church’s requests stem from multiple events that the Star-Telegram has reported, including that Stacey Gordon-Johnson didn’t receive any of her life-saving medications when she was jailed for 10 days in July. When she left the jail after not taking her psychiatric medications for so long, Gordon-Johnson said, she was confused and disoriented.
A spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Office said in August that medications are administered by JPS Hospital employees at the jail, not detention officers.
In 2019, Shanelle Jenkins wasn’t notified when her husband, Robert Miller, died in the jail. The Sheriff’s Office later said a chaplain contacted Miller’s father. Other families have told the Star-Telegram that they found the lack of transparency from the jail troublesome.
Ashley Watson said she learned through a news story that her brother was badly beaten and hospitalized. “I went to the chaplain, the administration and left a voicemail for medical,” Watson said last year. “Both of them told us that it’s not up to them to inform the family of any issues in the jail and that’s frustrating. What if he was more seriously hurt?”
The wife of Timothy Rasor told the Star-Telegram that she was notified about his death in jail in 2021, but she was unable to get information about what happened. It was after the newspaper published a story about Rasor’s death in March 2021 that they were invited into the jail to watch video of his last moments, his stepdaughter said.
Javonte Myers’ family had little information after the 28-year-old was found dead in 2020.
Later, they found out Myers had been left dead in his cell for six hours. In a follow-up letter from the church to Waybourn and other county leaders, Godby points to their shared faith.
“Our faith says that everyone deserves to be treated with dignity, and that everyone deserves to receive a level of care that is life-sustaining and engenders hope over despair,” Godby wrote. “We look forward to seeing movement toward outcomes of incarceration that result in a positive change in persons’ lives, thereby making our communities safer and increasingly better places to live.”
