Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn defended his record as jail administrator Thursday night, during a town hall where the public confronted him with questions about jail deaths and allegations of medical neglect behind bars.
Judges and local activists joined Waybourn on the panel, where the conversation kept coming back to the deaths: at least 60 since Waybourn took office in 2017, according to data from and the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office.
At the Tarrant County Sub-Courthouse in Arlington, with an audience of more than 100 people, Waybourn promised transparency about any death that isn鈥檛 under investigation or litigation, and offered jail tours to anyone who wants one.
鈥淲e鈥檇 love to have you, love to show you what we do, and look at the noble men and women who are operating that, standing against good and evil every day,鈥� he said.
Waybourn blamed a rise in the jail population for the increase in deaths during his tenure, but State Rep. Chris Turner, D-Grand Prairie, didn鈥檛 accept that explanation. He took the microphone during the audience questions segment.
"What I didn鈥檛 hear was an acknowledgment that 60 deaths in seven years is far too many. Do you agree that 60 deaths is too many to have in the Tarrant County Jail?鈥� Turner asked.
鈥淩epresentative, I promise you I don鈥檛 want to have one,鈥� Waybourn said.
Drugs have made the problem worse, he added.
"Several things have happened. One, an incredible porous border, where we鈥檝e had more drugs come into this county than ever before, and that has certainly made people more ill and more susceptible,鈥� Waybourn said, without providing any specifics.
Beyond the numbers, the circumstances surrounding some of the deaths have been a focus for local activists, who are seeking a federal investigation of the county jail system.
Jailers missed checks on Dean Stewart before his death by suicide in 2020, leading the jail to lose state certification for six days, . The county agreed to pay $400,000 to settle a lawsuit over his death.
In September, the county agreed to settle another jail death lawsuit for $1 million. Two jailers are accused of falsifying their checks on Javonte Myers, who died of a seizure disorder in his cell in 2020. Myers lay dead in his cell for hours before anyone noticed, the lawsuit alleged. The two jailers face criminal charges.
鈥淲hen those things happen, we hold them accountable,鈥� Waybourn said.
When asked how he prevents something like the Myers situation from happening again, the sheriff said supervisors review jail video to make sure it matches up with documentation.
But questions remain about other deaths, like Robert Miller鈥檚.
Miller died in jail custody in 2019, and the Tarrant County Medical Examiner鈥檚 Office declared his cause of death was a sickle cell crisis. found Miller didn鈥檛 have sickle cell disease, and he was pepper sprayed repeatedly before he died.
The county promised to hire an independent investigator to reexamine Miller鈥檚 autopsy report, but then the county backpedaled. The outside review never happened, and the Tarrant County Medical Examiner鈥檚 Office doubled down on its conclusions, even as .
Waybourn told reporters after the town hall he trusted the county on Miller鈥檚 case.
Other lawsuits against the jail are still pending. One is on behalf of a woman who gave birth unattended in her cell, and whose baby later died.
Another lawsuit is from Cory Rodrigues, a former inmate who says jailers beat him so badly he had to go to the hospital. Last year, the Tarrant County DA鈥檚 Office dismissed all criminal charges against the jailers involved in Rodrigues鈥� beating, which was caught on tape.
Waybourn apologized to one audience member, Liz Pi帽贸n, who said her son Gabriel spent a week in jail without his medication last June. Gabriel is autistic and developmentally disabled. Both he and Liz spoke to 四虎影院 for a story while he was incarcerated in Tarrant County.
鈥淪even days. He was seven days without his medication,鈥� Pi帽贸n told Waybourn. 鈥淢y worry was that he [would] fall into depression, hurt someone, because he didn鈥檛 have the medication.鈥�
Liz brought Gabriel鈥檚 medication list to the jail his first day there, she said, but it wasn鈥檛 until she spoke to 四虎影院 鈥渢hat he finally, within 30 minutes, got his medication."
鈥淚鈥檓 sorry that that happened,鈥� Waybourn said.
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