Tarrant County commissioners, citizens push for change in jail following inmate deaths

NBC 5 News

Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn briefed commissioners on Tuesday on inmate responses at the county jail and best practices.

It came in the wake of recent jail deaths-- the most recent being 31-year-old Anthony Ray Johnson's death.

Johnson died after being pepper-sprayed and pinned down by detention officers on April 21.

Commissioner Alisa Simmons had requested a briefing from Waybourn to discuss if he has a Special Response Team to handle difficult inmates.

Waybourn explained that all his officers are trained in de-escalation tactics, and building relationships with inmates to talk them down before they get aggressive.

“He will talk him into a pair of handcuffs, and that’s all we need. So, we use that method and that model all the time," he said.

He said many other jails use Special Response Teams, suited up and looked at as the SWAT of jails. Waybourn said those teams are more physical and can cause more harm.

“I’m telling you this would spread fear and take any hope away that we have in the pods. That’s the reason that we don’t do it," he said.

Waybourn added that they are trained in SRT and can suit up if need be.

Waybourn said My Health My Resources (MHMR) of Tarrant County sees 60% of inmates for some kind of mental health issue. He said the county's diversion program has helped push back on those numbers.

Waybourn said his officers are trained to spot signs and have sent thousands of requests to MHMR for more mental health help.

Johnson's family said he had a mental illness.

Waybourn said Johnson's death was an outlier.

“It was a spontaneous use of force, where he came out," Waybourn said. "This is the only one that has happened like this.”

Waybourn did fire two jailers involved in restraining Johnson, and on Tuesday said he was looking into an alternative to pepper spray. But some neighbors said that isn't enough.

“Firing two people is crumpets," said one neighbor. “To fire two people is asinine. There were at least eight people present."

Johnson's family agrees, sending a statement ahead of Commissioner's Court on Tuesday calling for more transparency, the release of the full incident video, and more people to be held accountable.

“In my line of work, I have seen a lot of videos revealing what truly happened during officer-involved incidents, and this video was one of the worst I have ever seen. It was very difficult for Anthony’s family to watch what transpired leading up to, during and after his brutal death. The manner in which Anthony was treated was extremely wrong and inhumane. No one deserves to have a knee on them for as long as Rafael Moreno had his on Anthony. To witness no one trying to prevent it suggests all the jailers felt it was appropriate to do so. The information that we received from the sheriff prior to seeing the video was not accurate and was not consistent with what we saw with our own eyes. We are not satisfied with the level of transparency that we, nor the public, have received. We are demanding more transparency, the release of the full video, and criminal charges for everyone involved, including the medical staff who failed to treat Anthony’s medical distress with a sense of urgency, care or compassion.” - Daryl K. Washington, Johnson Family Attorney

Johnson's family has also aimed at county commissioners for not exercising their authority to make policy changes in the county or pressure Waybourn to make changes in his office.

The family and Commissioner Alisa Simmons said only a small portion of Johnson's incident video was released-- about six minutes out of roughly 16 minutes.

Commissioner Manny Ramirez, who requested a briefing about the Sheriff's Office's implementation of a critical incident and video disclosure policy, said the Tarrant County Sheriff's Office doesn't have clear policies on how communications are handled after, during, and beyond a critical incident.

“I think that a lot of unease, a lot of mistrust can be averted if you have clear policies," he said, including a policy on when evidence in a case, like video, will be released.

Sheriff Waybourn was not present for that briefing, but a spokesperson for his office was.

“We’re not trying to have a lack of transparency in the sheriff’s office. It’s very important to us that we make sure that the investigation is done well and appropriately at the beginning, and then as things can be released, we’re willing to release them, if it will not affect the investigation," she said.

The spokesperson did not address if or when Johnson's full incident video would be released.

The briefings happened during the same meeting commissioners unanimously approved a $1.2 million settlement with Chasity Congious, a 21-year-old mentally handicapped black woman whose newborn baby died after being born at the Tarrant County Jail.

Commissioner Simmons said although she supported the settlement, the incident shouldn't have happened.

“It seems, then, that Tarrant County taxpayers are paying quite a heavy price to subsidize the dehumanizing culture in our jail," she said.

Simmons called on more commissioners to back her in withholding funds from the sheriff's office until Waybourn improves jail conditions.

Some neighbors agreed, pointing to more than 60 inmate deaths at the Tarrant County Jail since 2017 and saying Johnson's isn't an outlier, but linked to the baby's death, indicating a need for systemic change.

“I am begging you to make him accountable. We don’t have an individual problem in that jail. We have a cultural and systemic problem," said one neighbor, one of many calling for Waybourn's resignation or firing.