Tarrant County commissioners want a process for handling compassionate release cases in the jail 鈥� in which a person detained can be granted release under specific circumstances such as severe medical needs.
Commissioner Alisa Simmons said she wanted the court to be briefed on compassionate release because of concerns over an inmate with terminal stomach cancer.
"I don't want him to die in the jail because we'll have another in-custody death," she said during Wednesday's commissioners court meeting.
In February, the second in-custody death of the year was a 56-year-old who died after spending days in Fort Worth's John Peter Smith Hospital with an unspecified medical issue. Prior to that, a 36-year-old man died from complications from an attempted suicide.
Although the sheriff's office does provide medical housing with 24-hour observation and care during detainment, it's not clear who is able to qualify for that housing and it is not the same as compassionate release.
No one from the sheriff's office or the Tarrant County District Attorney's Office were available to speak during Wednesday's meeting.
The Tarrant County District Attorney鈥檚 Office issued a statement that said each criminal case and defendant must be evaluated on its own facts and circumstances.
"The decision on whether to release a defendant for a compassionate reason, or any other reason, is a decision by law left to the judge in each case," the DA's office said.
Compassionate release has to adhere to the Texas Code of Criminal Procedures and is ultimately up to a judge's discretion. Key considerations for release include the nature of the offense, the medical evidence and case law support.
The for serious offenses like murder, sexual assault, injury to a child, or aggravated assault, County Administrator Chandler Merritt said.
Confirming how many people are let out on compassionate release is difficult, Merritt said. For example, the only way to tell if someone was on compassionate release or if they were let out on a personal recognizance bond is by looking through the clerk files.
"There's nothing out there that says a compassionate release is like a flagged entity," he said. "So it's not easy to just pull a report quickly that says, 鈥榦h this was a PR bond, and it was also a compassionate release.鈥欌��
Simmons said she wanted staff to see what other counties do and how they handle compassionate release.
I wanted a briefing on this item to inform the public and families of compassionate release.
— Tarrant County Commissioner Alisa Simmons (@CommALSimmons)
Compassionate release is another effective tool in the fight to reduce deaths within the Tarrant County jail.
We all know there is a huge intersectionality between medical conditions鈥�
While there are not many cases in which compassionate release would apply 鈥� and granting it would be up to the judges 鈥� Commissioner Manny Ramirez said he was open to finding a way to make the process simpler.
"We still have to have security on these individuals too," Ramirez said. "They're not just sitting in JPS with JPS nurses, I mean they also have to be guarded if they're in custody."
It will be up to the judges to decide if they want a policy; for now the county plans to approach them to consider it.
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