The Texas Senate passed a bill Tuesday that would eliminate a requirement to investigate all deaths in county jails, making deaths from presumed natural causes exempt.
Advocates say if it becomes law, jails could escape accountability for medical neglect.
The state has required an outside law enforcement agency to investigate all jail deaths since 2017, with the passage of
The new bill, , aims to walk back part of the Sandra Bland Act. If a doctor determines that someone died of natural causes in jail custody, no outside law enforcement agency would have to investigate that death.
State Sen. Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury, proposed the bill in March.
鈥淯nexpected or natural deaths, such as cardiac arrest or cancer, can and do occur but should not require full-scale criminal investigations,鈥� Birdwell told .
The bill now heads to the Texas House. It needs to pass both houses of the Texas Legislature and signed by the governor to become law.
If people die of natural causes behind bars, that doesn鈥檛 mean their deaths were unpreventable, Krish Gundu with the said.
鈥淪ometimes when they investigate, they find that, yes, a 70-year-old had a heart attack, but also, that 70-year-old was prescribed heart medication, which he didn't get," Gundu said.
The bill could create a 鈥渃hicken and egg鈥� situation, Gundu added.
鈥淵ou're going to call it natural without knowing how it happened, but then you won鈥檛 know how it happened if you don't investigate it,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t makes no sense at all.鈥�
Tarrant County has its own history of deaths in jail custody that were declared natural but were revealed to be suspicious after increased scrutiny.
Two former Tarrant County jailers were indicted for allegedly lying about checking on an inmate named Javonte Myers, who died in his cell in 2020. His cause of death is listed as a seizure disorder, which is considered natural.
A Texas Rangers death investigation noted that Myers hadn鈥檛 been checked on, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.
Robert Miller died in Tarrant County Jail custody in 2019, and the county medical examiner鈥檚 office listed his cause of death as a sickle cell crisis 鈥� another natural cause. But a suggested Miller didn鈥檛 have sickle cell disease, and likely died due to being pepper sprayed repeatedly.
Questions still swirl around Miller鈥檚 case. The county never sent materials to a third-party forensic examiner to review the autopsy, and his manner of death is now listed on the Tarrant County Medical Examiner鈥檚 website as 鈥渦ndetermined.鈥�
When someone dies in a county jail, it鈥檚 often up to the Texas Rangers to investigate. But critics of that policy say there are some jail deaths Rangers shouldn鈥檛 have to bother investigating.
鈥� unrelated to this bill 鈥� Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn gave the example of a man who died of cancer in Tarrant County Jail custody.
鈥淲e want accountability, but sometimes it鈥檚 like, golly, what could he be doing?鈥� Waybourn said of those investigations. 鈥淎 murder case or something else other than reviewing this case.鈥�
Waybourn didn鈥檛 name the person who died of cancer, but Texas Attorney General records show a man named died of metastatic carcinoma of the liver in jail custody a week before that committee hearing.
Jails should strive to be more transparent, not less, said Cynthia Simons with She criticized the bill as an attempt to hide information about deaths behind bars.
"Entire families and communities are devastated when there's not a proper investigation into the death,鈥� Simons said. 鈥淎nd all it does is continue to sow discord, discontent and distrust between the community and government entities."
And getting information from jails is no easy feat, Gundu said. If this bill passes, there will be even less information available.
鈥淔amilies who already struggle for answers are going to be left even more in the dark,鈥� she said.
Got a tip? Email Miranda Suarez at msuarez@kera.org. You can follow Miranda on Twitter @MirandaRSuarez.
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