Tarrant Officials are Wasting our Money and
Making us Less Safe
$1.2 million dollars of your taxpayer money on the “Dead Baby Zenorah in the Jail” lawsuit.
Largest lawsuit in Tarrant County history. 5/21/24
$1 million dollars of your taxpayer money on another death in the jail lawsuit.
Second largest lawsuit payout in Tarrant County history. 2023
For others, see below
Largest lawsuit in Tarrant County history. 5/21/24
$1 million dollars of your taxpayer money on another death in the jail lawsuit.
Second largest lawsuit payout in Tarrant County history. 2023
For others, see below
Local Tarrant County officials have cost us millions in lawsuits for unnecessary deaths in the jail due to negligence and murder by the jailers. Largest lawsuits in Tarrant County history in the past year. Taxpayers pay the legal fees on both sides.
They have taken $55 million dollars of our taxpayer money and wasted it on an out-of-county, for-profit prison and gave millions to the Sheriff for another unneeded law enforcement training facility when Tarrant taxpayers just paid $101 million of one in 2017.
Taxpayers paid $69 million to over $200 million per year in unnecessary and illegal incarcerations (e.g. incarcerations for class C misdemeanors where the maximum legal sentence is a fine). Inmates serving twice as much time as that to which they are sentenced. Leaving murders out on bond in the community (one murderer in the community five years before trial).
Officials withholding evidence in the record breaking, largest in Tarrant history $1.2 million dollar case - already settled (Baby Zenorah who was born in the jail and died). Not releasing this evidence has caused the case to be reopened. Taxpayers are going to pay for this lawsuit twice. (Mother kept in jail 5 months without a single court hearing).
Local officials have given $200 million dollars of our money to a subpar contractor and to get $35,000 in return for campaign contributions.
$5000.00 the head of Commissioner's Court (Republican) elected official is using our taxpayer dollars for a political consultant. Another local Republican official tried to use our tax dollars for a political consultant, but was called out on it and therefore unsuccessful.
Not using the jail diversion center that is staffed with our tax dollars.
Voter suppression units masquerading as election integrity that has not prosecuted a single case (3 Assistant District Attorneys, and investigator, Sheriff’s employees).
No Public Defenders or competency attorneys which would save money.
Attempted takeover of the judiciary causing judges to leave their benches to spend the day at Commissioner’s Court.
Deputies shooting and killing a man whose family had obtained a mental health warrant for transporting the man to a facility for help.
Deputies burning a man and his dogs to death in their home. $15 million dollar lawsuit pending.
Refusing to follow the advice of experts that have been paid for by our taxpayer dollars.
The County secured a $400,000 grant from the State of Texas to create a temporary felony court to assist in the backlog of in-custody cases with greater expediency. This is a desperate attempt to clean up the mess before the election. Check the Office of Court Administration website to see what Tarrant County Judges do.
Posting as many as 40 unformed, armed law enforcement officers at Commissioner’s Court at a time. Incarcerated persons dying of overdose after being in the local jail for months (how are illegal drugs getting into the jail?) Our local law enforcement and law enforcement vehicles have been sent to the Republican national convention, etc. etc. etc..…
Local elected officials cut money from youth programs - Girl's Inc, Juvenile rehabilitation, juvenile substance counseling . . . Hurting the most vulnerable among us and ensuring more crime in the future. Making us less safe. Studies show that for every dollar spent on programs for the youth and mental health, 8 tax dollars is saved.
There is a lack of written policies. This is leading to lawsuits.
$1,463,608 for 3 Assistant District Attorneys at the hospital for "Tarrant County Jail Related Medical Claims."
Tarrant County Jail Payouts:
BEFORE 2017 (the current administration)
•$350,000
AFTER 2017-
•Dean Stewart - $400,000
•Javonte Mayers - $1 million
•Cory Rodrigues - $200,000
•Chasity Congiuous - $1.2 million
•Georgia Kay - $750,000
TOTAL
$3.5 million
The costs to the families who lost loved ones and the costs to Tarrant County are just too high.
They have taken $55 million dollars of our taxpayer money and wasted it on an out-of-county, for-profit prison and gave millions to the Sheriff for another unneeded law enforcement training facility when Tarrant taxpayers just paid $101 million of one in 2017.
Taxpayers paid $69 million to over $200 million per year in unnecessary and illegal incarcerations (e.g. incarcerations for class C misdemeanors where the maximum legal sentence is a fine). Inmates serving twice as much time as that to which they are sentenced. Leaving murders out on bond in the community (one murderer in the community five years before trial).
Officials withholding evidence in the record breaking, largest in Tarrant history $1.2 million dollar case - already settled (Baby Zenorah who was born in the jail and died). Not releasing this evidence has caused the case to be reopened. Taxpayers are going to pay for this lawsuit twice. (Mother kept in jail 5 months without a single court hearing).
Local officials have given $200 million dollars of our money to a subpar contractor and to get $35,000 in return for campaign contributions.
$5000.00 the head of Commissioner's Court (Republican) elected official is using our taxpayer dollars for a political consultant. Another local Republican official tried to use our tax dollars for a political consultant, but was called out on it and therefore unsuccessful.
Not using the jail diversion center that is staffed with our tax dollars.
Voter suppression units masquerading as election integrity that has not prosecuted a single case (3 Assistant District Attorneys, and investigator, Sheriff’s employees).
No Public Defenders or competency attorneys which would save money.
Attempted takeover of the judiciary causing judges to leave their benches to spend the day at Commissioner’s Court.
Deputies shooting and killing a man whose family had obtained a mental health warrant for transporting the man to a facility for help.
Deputies burning a man and his dogs to death in their home. $15 million dollar lawsuit pending.
Refusing to follow the advice of experts that have been paid for by our taxpayer dollars.
The County secured a $400,000 grant from the State of Texas to create a temporary felony court to assist in the backlog of in-custody cases with greater expediency. This is a desperate attempt to clean up the mess before the election. Check the Office of Court Administration website to see what Tarrant County Judges do.
Posting as many as 40 unformed, armed law enforcement officers at Commissioner’s Court at a time. Incarcerated persons dying of overdose after being in the local jail for months (how are illegal drugs getting into the jail?) Our local law enforcement and law enforcement vehicles have been sent to the Republican national convention, etc. etc. etc..…
Local elected officials cut money from youth programs - Girl's Inc, Juvenile rehabilitation, juvenile substance counseling . . . Hurting the most vulnerable among us and ensuring more crime in the future. Making us less safe. Studies show that for every dollar spent on programs for the youth and mental health, 8 tax dollars is saved.
There is a lack of written policies. This is leading to lawsuits.
$1,463,608 for 3 Assistant District Attorneys at the hospital for "Tarrant County Jail Related Medical Claims."
Tarrant County Jail Payouts:
BEFORE 2017 (the current administration)
•$350,000
AFTER 2017-
•Dean Stewart - $400,000
•Javonte Mayers - $1 million
•Cory Rodrigues - $200,000
•Chasity Congiuous - $1.2 million
•Georgia Kay - $750,000
TOTAL
$3.5 million
The costs to the families who lost loved ones and the costs to Tarrant County are just too high.
1. The judges are responsible for setting the cases for hearings so that people do not sit in the jail unnecessarily.
The mother (dead baby in the jail case) was in the jail unnecessarily, and there for five months without a single court hearing.
JUDGES MUST A. Move cases timely
B. eliminate the need for out-of-county, for-profit prisons (she’s done it before)
C. appoint a mental health public defender to the court to handle those issues
2. The Sheriff is responsible for caring for the inmates.
3. The Tarrant County Commissioners Court is responsible for establishing public defenders, who would have prevented these catastrophes. They fund the Sheriff and Judges and have control. The majority on Commissioners Court refuse to vote for programs that cost nothing that would have prevented this.
There are systemic failures on every level in Tarrant County.
STOP PAYING MILLIONS IN LAWSUITS FOR UNNECESSARY DEATHS!!!
Wasting our Money And
Making you Less Safe
Federal Covid funds reallocated from the homeless and child care to another law enforcement training center
The majority on the Tarrant County Commissioner's Court are wasting $55 million of your taxpayer dollars ($44 million which was originally designated for COVID relief for the homeless and children).
$32 million dollars for a law enforcement training center for the Sheriff when Tarrant County taxpayers just spent $101 million for this in 2017 and there are several such facilities nearby. Your children and grandchildren will have to continue paying for this. You, your children, your grandchildren . . . will have increased taxes staffing this facility.
Cindy Stormer presenting information contained in her book BrainStormer to Tarrant County Commissioner's Court.
The mother (dead baby in the jail case) was in the jail unnecessarily, and there for five months without a single court hearing.
JUDGES MUST A. Move cases timely
B. eliminate the need for out-of-county, for-profit prisons (she’s done it before)
C. appoint a mental health public defender to the court to handle those issues
2. The Sheriff is responsible for caring for the inmates.
3. The Tarrant County Commissioners Court is responsible for establishing public defenders, who would have prevented these catastrophes. They fund the Sheriff and Judges and have control. The majority on Commissioners Court refuse to vote for programs that cost nothing that would have prevented this.
There are systemic failures on every level in Tarrant County.
STOP PAYING MILLIONS IN LAWSUITS FOR UNNECESSARY DEATHS!!!
Wasting our Money And
Making you Less Safe
Federal Covid funds reallocated from the homeless and child care to another law enforcement training center
The majority on the Tarrant County Commissioner's Court are wasting $55 million of your taxpayer dollars ($44 million which was originally designated for COVID relief for the homeless and children).
$32 million dollars for a law enforcement training center for the Sheriff when Tarrant County taxpayers just spent $101 million for this in 2017 and there are several such facilities nearby. Your children and grandchildren will have to continue paying for this. You, your children, your grandchildren . . . will have increased taxes staffing this facility.
Cindy Stormer presenting information contained in her book BrainStormer to Tarrant County Commissioner's Court.
Christopher Loyo’s family went to a judge to get a mental health warrant, so that he could be taken to a mental health facility to receive care. Days later, Tarrant County Sheriff’s deputies show up to serve the warrant and transport him — but instead they killed him in his own bedroom. His family needed help for Chris and the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office FAILED them — like the 69 families of people who have died in custody, and countless others who have been abused in custody, since 2017 when sheriff Bill Waybourn took office. We demand justice and an end to deaths, abuses, and inhumane conditions and treatment at Tarrant County jail and from the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office. We extend our deepest condolences to Christopher’s family and friends. Feb. 2025
Wasting our Money And
Making you Less Safe
Abuse of Inmates will lead to more lawsuits
“The sworn complaints are full of horror stories, including one of a man who repeatedly slit his wrists to escape alleged daily sexual abuse by jailers.”
“jailers didn’t hear Congious’ tormented screams as she delivered a newborn”
See the article below:
Making you Less Safe
Abuse of Inmates will lead to more lawsuits
“The sworn complaints are full of horror stories, including one of a man who repeatedly slit his wrists to escape alleged daily sexual abuse by jailers.”
“jailers didn’t hear Congious’ tormented screams as she delivered a newborn”
See the article below:
Wasting our Money And
Making you Less Safe
Judges not moving cases
Commissioner Alisa Simmons at Commissioner’s Court
10/10/23
68 in jail on $500 bonds (or less)
2,179 days in jail at a state cost of
$185,000
Minor offenses like criminal trespass
Making you Less Safe
Judges not moving cases
Commissioner Alisa Simmons at Commissioner’s Court
10/10/23
68 in jail on $500 bonds (or less)
2,179 days in jail at a state cost of
$185,000
Minor offenses like criminal trespass
Wasting our Money And
Making you Less Safe
Unnecessary and illegal incarcerations
FINANCIAL INCENTIVE FOR UNNECESSARY ARRESTS IN TARRANT COUNTY
Think this doesn't affect you?
In 2023 there were 1,306 people put in the Tarrant Jail on Class C Misdemeanors e.g. speeding. Jail time is illegal on Class C misdemeanors.
Penal Code Sec. 12.23: An individual adjudged guilty of a Class C misdemeanor shall be punished by a fine not to exceed $500.
That’s 1306 times the police officers put someone in jail when it was illegal or inappropriate to do so
That’s 1306 times the judges set bonds for people that never should have been in jail in the first place
That’s 1306 cases of false imprisonment (arguably a felony given the conditions of the Tarrant Jail)
That’s 1306 potential lawsuits here in Tarrant County
This is how Waller County got sued for millions of dollars and we eventually ended up with the Sandra Bland Act.
Making you Less Safe
Unnecessary and illegal incarcerations
FINANCIAL INCENTIVE FOR UNNECESSARY ARRESTS IN TARRANT COUNTY
Think this doesn't affect you?
In 2023 there were 1,306 people put in the Tarrant Jail on Class C Misdemeanors e.g. speeding. Jail time is illegal on Class C misdemeanors.
Penal Code Sec. 12.23: An individual adjudged guilty of a Class C misdemeanor shall be punished by a fine not to exceed $500.
That’s 1306 times the police officers put someone in jail when it was illegal or inappropriate to do so
That’s 1306 times the judges set bonds for people that never should have been in jail in the first place
That’s 1306 cases of false imprisonment (arguably a felony given the conditions of the Tarrant Jail)
That’s 1306 potential lawsuits here in Tarrant County
This is how Waller County got sued for millions of dollars and we eventually ended up with the Sandra Bland Act.
Wasting our Money And
Making you Less Safe
Unnecessary Incarcerations
TOWN HALL MEETING BY COMMISSIONER SIMMONS 1/18/24
On a $25 bond, the crime: “He was sitting in a curb and refused to move for street sweeper. He stayed in jail over 90 days. 90 days at $85 per day. That is about $7,600. THAT IS YOUR MONEY” Commissioner Simmons.
“[A] Mental Health Diversion center. In the past year 2022 the center was basically unused.” Tarrant County Judge.
(see below)
“We couldn’t figure out how to set a personal bond.” Greg Shugart, Criminal Court Administrator
Note: A personal bond is one at no cost so people don’t stay in jail for months that are innocent or have no money – low level, non-violent offenses.
Nekom at 1:55 min on this video
Shugart at 1:42 min on this video. 1/18/24 Town Hall Meeting
“It sometimes takes up to four days to get a bond on a class B misdemeanor (lowest level of offense for which there is jail time and judges rarely expect anyone to spend time in jail for such offenses) and then another two days to get out of jail. . . it is an extortion racket.” Attorney Jackee Cox, Commissioners Court Tarrant County 6/4/24.
Wasting our Money And
Making you Less Safe
Not using the Jail Diversion Center
“[A] Mental Health Diversion center. In the past year 2022 the center was basically unused.” Tarrant County Judge Nekom at the Town Hall Meeting by Commissioner Simmons 1/18/24
Note: Your tax dollars are paying to staff this facility, but judges are not sending people there. It accommodates 400 people per month. There would be no need for an out-of-county, for-profit jail costing $22 million dollars per year if this facility were used.
Also, it would have saved the lives of some inmates like Robert Miller and Georgia Baldwin and the life of baby Zenorah born in the jail to a mother who should not have been in jail.
Thank you, Commissioner Alisa Simmons, for fighting for fiscally responsible measures.
“If you don’t put people’s feet to the fire, they are not going to comply. This Tarrant County Jail Diversion Center is not being used to its full capacity. The court system is not requiring conditions of probation that would save lives, and restore communities.
Employee of the Jail Diversion Center, Tarrant County
Making you Less Safe
Not using the Jail Diversion Center
“[A] Mental Health Diversion center. In the past year 2022 the center was basically unused.” Tarrant County Judge Nekom at the Town Hall Meeting by Commissioner Simmons 1/18/24
Note: Your tax dollars are paying to staff this facility, but judges are not sending people there. It accommodates 400 people per month. There would be no need for an out-of-county, for-profit jail costing $22 million dollars per year if this facility were used.
Also, it would have saved the lives of some inmates like Robert Miller and Georgia Baldwin and the life of baby Zenorah born in the jail to a mother who should not have been in jail.
Thank you, Commissioner Alisa Simmons, for fighting for fiscally responsible measures.
“If you don’t put people’s feet to the fire, they are not going to comply. This Tarrant County Jail Diversion Center is not being used to its full capacity. The court system is not requiring conditions of probation that would save lives, and restore communities.
Employee of the Jail Diversion Center, Tarrant County
Wasting our Money And
Making you Less Safe
More Unnecessary and illegal incarcerations
There were 329 incompetent individuals in the Tarrant County Jail last year. They served an average of 282 days each. The average sentenced days for the charged offenses would have been 8 days. The charge that the mentally ill are most frequently charged with is criminal trespass (translation: being homeless and in public with a mental illness). You don’t need to wait for a State Hospital Bed to restore competency, you can just dismiss the charges on these low-level, non-violent offenses. This would save millions in lawsuits.
Thank you Tarrant County Commissioner Alisa Simmons for being the empathic, fiscally responsible Commissioner.
Hundreds of Tarrant County Jail inmates are awaiting competency restoration at any given time before their cases can be resolved. They have not been found guilty of any crime. The wait time is years for some. With billions of dollars in surplus last year, very little was spent to resolve this problem by the Republicans in charge (on the state or local level).
See the video below where Commissioners Court was notified that they would have personal liability if they failed to keep low-level, non-violent offenders out of the jail.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FyKySA7SQk&t=368s
Making you Less Safe
More Unnecessary and illegal incarcerations
There were 329 incompetent individuals in the Tarrant County Jail last year. They served an average of 282 days each. The average sentenced days for the charged offenses would have been 8 days. The charge that the mentally ill are most frequently charged with is criminal trespass (translation: being homeless and in public with a mental illness). You don’t need to wait for a State Hospital Bed to restore competency, you can just dismiss the charges on these low-level, non-violent offenses. This would save millions in lawsuits.
Thank you Tarrant County Commissioner Alisa Simmons for being the empathic, fiscally responsible Commissioner.
Hundreds of Tarrant County Jail inmates are awaiting competency restoration at any given time before their cases can be resolved. They have not been found guilty of any crime. The wait time is years for some. With billions of dollars in surplus last year, very little was spent to resolve this problem by the Republicans in charge (on the state or local level).
See the video below where Commissioners Court was notified that they would have personal liability if they failed to keep low-level, non-violent offenders out of the jail.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FyKySA7SQk&t=368s
Wasting our Money And
Making you Less Safe
WRONGFUL PROSECUTION OF CRYSTAL MASON
TWO SEPARATE TEXAS APPELLATE COURTS WITH ALL REPUBLICAN, CONSERVATIVE JUDGES HAVE CONCLUDED THAT MASON WAS WRONGFULLY CONVICTED.
I was the Conviction Integrity Attorney (overturning wrongful convictions) for the Dallas District Attorney's Office, a former Elected District Attorney, an appellate attorney for the Tarrant County District Attorney’s office, and a career prosecutor. I have read the appeals briefs in the Crystal Mason case. This was a wrongful conviction (two appellate courts have reviewed the evidence and agreed that she should not have been prosecuted -that is 16 Republican Judges), The NONPARTISAN League of Women Voters FILED 4 SEPARATE BRIEFS IN THE CASE requesting that Mason not be prosecuted. Mason deserves restitution and not further persecution.
The prosecution amounted to voter suppression - which of course is the motivation). This was 2016. We have had the 2018 midterms. The 2020 Presidential election, the 2022 midterms - IT IS ONE PERSON. . . .THE BALLOT NEVER COUNTED . . .This case is eight years old.
Why are you not prosecuting the Republican Mansfield School Board Candidate who voted on a provisional ballot just like Crystal Mason and worse - he then got on the ballot illegally over objection. Or the Republican precinct chair who voted illegally in Tarrant County for years (lives in Johnson County).
It is estimated that the incarceration alone of this mother and grandmother cost taxpayers over $100,000.00. The attorneys’ fees (paid for by taxpayers on both sides) AND LOSS OF THIS MOTHER TO THE FAMILY FOR THE TIME OF INCARCERATION may be incalculable.
Thank you Commissioner Alisa Simmons of the Tarrant County Commissioner, Precinct 2 for being the fiscally responsible, intelligent Commissioner and calling this out for the voter SUPPRESSION that it is.
Crystal Mason is also the caretaker for her brothers 4 children. Crystal Mason continues fighting for democracy see below: through The Fight, a nonprofit that advocates for prison reform and integration of prisoners into society.
FYI - lawyers do not tell their clients all the ramifications of convictions. See my book Texas Small Firm Practice Tools to see the pages devoted to collateral consequences for convictions. She has never hurt anyone. Her original offense was tax related. Police never investigated this voter fraud case. It was handpicked by Republican officials to suppress votes.
Her comment about the arrest for voting:
“Being a mother, a nourisher, a provider, it was the hardest thing in the world to leave your kids. I had promised them I would never leave them.” “We have to go door to door and tell people how important their vote is” “Your one vote can make a difference”
CRYSTAL IS VOTING. THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR THE REST OF US.
She was on an appeal bond for 6 years. The election judge at the polling site was the one responsible for not pointing out that she was on parole before she voted. She was offered probation, but refused it as she had not committed any crime. The provisional ballot she cast must be cured. This means it never counted.
Thank you Alisa Simmons for Tarrant County Commissioner, Precinct 2 for being the fiscally responsible, intelligent Commissioner.
Making you Less Safe
WRONGFUL PROSECUTION OF CRYSTAL MASON
TWO SEPARATE TEXAS APPELLATE COURTS WITH ALL REPUBLICAN, CONSERVATIVE JUDGES HAVE CONCLUDED THAT MASON WAS WRONGFULLY CONVICTED.
I was the Conviction Integrity Attorney (overturning wrongful convictions) for the Dallas District Attorney's Office, a former Elected District Attorney, an appellate attorney for the Tarrant County District Attorney’s office, and a career prosecutor. I have read the appeals briefs in the Crystal Mason case. This was a wrongful conviction (two appellate courts have reviewed the evidence and agreed that she should not have been prosecuted -that is 16 Republican Judges), The NONPARTISAN League of Women Voters FILED 4 SEPARATE BRIEFS IN THE CASE requesting that Mason not be prosecuted. Mason deserves restitution and not further persecution.
The prosecution amounted to voter suppression - which of course is the motivation). This was 2016. We have had the 2018 midterms. The 2020 Presidential election, the 2022 midterms - IT IS ONE PERSON. . . .THE BALLOT NEVER COUNTED . . .This case is eight years old.
Why are you not prosecuting the Republican Mansfield School Board Candidate who voted on a provisional ballot just like Crystal Mason and worse - he then got on the ballot illegally over objection. Or the Republican precinct chair who voted illegally in Tarrant County for years (lives in Johnson County).
It is estimated that the incarceration alone of this mother and grandmother cost taxpayers over $100,000.00. The attorneys’ fees (paid for by taxpayers on both sides) AND LOSS OF THIS MOTHER TO THE FAMILY FOR THE TIME OF INCARCERATION may be incalculable.
Thank you Commissioner Alisa Simmons of the Tarrant County Commissioner, Precinct 2 for being the fiscally responsible, intelligent Commissioner and calling this out for the voter SUPPRESSION that it is.
Crystal Mason is also the caretaker for her brothers 4 children. Crystal Mason continues fighting for democracy see below: through The Fight, a nonprofit that advocates for prison reform and integration of prisoners into society.
FYI - lawyers do not tell their clients all the ramifications of convictions. See my book Texas Small Firm Practice Tools to see the pages devoted to collateral consequences for convictions. She has never hurt anyone. Her original offense was tax related. Police never investigated this voter fraud case. It was handpicked by Republican officials to suppress votes.
Her comment about the arrest for voting:
“Being a mother, a nourisher, a provider, it was the hardest thing in the world to leave your kids. I had promised them I would never leave them.” “We have to go door to door and tell people how important their vote is” “Your one vote can make a difference”
CRYSTAL IS VOTING. THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR THE REST OF US.
She was on an appeal bond for 6 years. The election judge at the polling site was the one responsible for not pointing out that she was on parole before she voted. She was offered probation, but refused it as she had not committed any crime. The provisional ballot she cast must be cured. This means it never counted.
Thank you Alisa Simmons for Tarrant County Commissioner, Precinct 2 for being the fiscally responsible, intelligent Commissioner.
|
|
Wasting our Money And
Making you Less Safe
Voter Suppression at Taxpayer Expense
TARRANT COUNTY ELECTED OFFICIALS ARE ATTACKING DEMOCRACY.
Voter suppression is parading as “election integrity”. The Election Integrity Task force in the District Attorney’s Office has three Assistant District Attorneys and an investigator. The supervisor is paid approximately $165,000 per year. They have only had 12 complaints made to the District Attorney’s office. Citizens complain publicly (documented on video found on YouTube or the Commissioners website) to Commissioners Court that their complaints against Republicans violators are ignored. This while Tarrant County is the largest county in the United States that has no public defenders i.e. attorneys specialized in moving mental health cases. These attorneys save lives and hundreds of thousands of taxpayer’s money. See Commissioner's Court Meeting 6/4/24.
“Tarrant County Texas is the epicenter for voter suppression” Former State Representative the Honorable Lon Burnam to Commissioner's Court 6/4/24.
“This so-called election integrity unit is just political posturing meant to sow confusion among voters and criminalize voting. I think Tarrant County would be better served focusing its resources on making elections more accessible to voters and providing open lines to voters to help with any problems they may face, but this so-called election integrity unit is not going to accomplish that.” - Ashley Harris, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas
Dallas News
Making you Less Safe
Voter Suppression at Taxpayer Expense
TARRANT COUNTY ELECTED OFFICIALS ARE ATTACKING DEMOCRACY.
Voter suppression is parading as “election integrity”. The Election Integrity Task force in the District Attorney’s Office has three Assistant District Attorneys and an investigator. The supervisor is paid approximately $165,000 per year. They have only had 12 complaints made to the District Attorney’s office. Citizens complain publicly (documented on video found on YouTube or the Commissioners website) to Commissioners Court that their complaints against Republicans violators are ignored. This while Tarrant County is the largest county in the United States that has no public defenders i.e. attorneys specialized in moving mental health cases. These attorneys save lives and hundreds of thousands of taxpayer’s money. See Commissioner's Court Meeting 6/4/24.
“Tarrant County Texas is the epicenter for voter suppression” Former State Representative the Honorable Lon Burnam to Commissioner's Court 6/4/24.
“This so-called election integrity unit is just political posturing meant to sow confusion among voters and criminalize voting. I think Tarrant County would be better served focusing its resources on making elections more accessible to voters and providing open lines to voters to help with any problems they may face, but this so-called election integrity unit is not going to accomplish that.” - Ashley Harris, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas
Dallas News
Wasting our Money And
Making you Less Safe
Voter Suppression parading as Election Integrity in the District Attorney's Office
Tarrant County Taxpayers are paying $165,000 per year for a prosecutor in the District Attorneys office the sole purpose of which is a voter suppression. They have not prosecuted a single case since the unit was established. Making you less safe as this prosecutor could be moving cases out of the local jail and on to the State Penitentiary where the violent offenders should be.
BECAUSE IT WILL RESULT IN MORE FEDERAL INVESTIGATION
"ZERO! There have been no documented cases of voter fraud prosecuted by the Tarrant County district attorney’s office.
It’s no surprise that the so-called ‘Election Integrity Task Force’ chose not to attend my Town Hall meeting to take questions about voter fraud —they have nothing to report—ZERO!
Further, the list of ‘new’ security measures floating around might make you question whether our election processes were ever vulnerable. They were not. Tarrant County’s elections have always been secure.
What’s being implemented was influenced by the election denier movement in Tarrant County. Several of these steps add unnecessary bureaucracy, possibly leading to delays in reporting election results on November 5th and waste your taxpayer dollars."
Commissioner Alisa Simmons 10/18/24
Wasting our Money And
Making you Less Safe
Voter Suppression parading as Election Integrity in the Sheriffs Office
There are investigations for voter suppression and immigration in the Sheriffs Office, neither of which are constitutionally mandated duties. Care of the people in the jail, however is the biggest responsibility and a duty of the sheriff. However, we have three times the national average of deaths in our jail resulting in numerous lawsuits. These deputies could be working on crime or preventing the atrocities in the jail that are resulting in lawsuits.
See the letter from Congressman Veasey and numerous other elected officials requesting an investigation of Tarrant County Republican Officials. Republican officials are wasting your tax dollars engaging in voter suppression.
Making you Less Safe
Voter Suppression parading as Election Integrity in the District Attorney's Office
Tarrant County Taxpayers are paying $165,000 per year for a prosecutor in the District Attorneys office the sole purpose of which is a voter suppression. They have not prosecuted a single case since the unit was established. Making you less safe as this prosecutor could be moving cases out of the local jail and on to the State Penitentiary where the violent offenders should be.
BECAUSE IT WILL RESULT IN MORE FEDERAL INVESTIGATION
"ZERO! There have been no documented cases of voter fraud prosecuted by the Tarrant County district attorney’s office.
It’s no surprise that the so-called ‘Election Integrity Task Force’ chose not to attend my Town Hall meeting to take questions about voter fraud —they have nothing to report—ZERO!
Further, the list of ‘new’ security measures floating around might make you question whether our election processes were ever vulnerable. They were not. Tarrant County’s elections have always been secure.
What’s being implemented was influenced by the election denier movement in Tarrant County. Several of these steps add unnecessary bureaucracy, possibly leading to delays in reporting election results on November 5th and waste your taxpayer dollars."
Commissioner Alisa Simmons 10/18/24
Wasting our Money And
Making you Less Safe
Voter Suppression parading as Election Integrity in the Sheriffs Office
There are investigations for voter suppression and immigration in the Sheriffs Office, neither of which are constitutionally mandated duties. Care of the people in the jail, however is the biggest responsibility and a duty of the sheriff. However, we have three times the national average of deaths in our jail resulting in numerous lawsuits. These deputies could be working on crime or preventing the atrocities in the jail that are resulting in lawsuits.
See the letter from Congressman Veasey and numerous other elected officials requesting an investigation of Tarrant County Republican Officials. Republican officials are wasting your tax dollars engaging in voter suppression.
Wasting our Money And
Making you Less Safe
No Competency Attorney
Dallas County created an Assistant District Attorney (ADA) position who specialized in competency. This attorney not only got people out of jail and into hospitals or other facilities to get the treatment they deserved, it saved lives and for Dallas taxpayers it saved $300,000 the first year the position was created and even more each year after that.
The Republicans on Tarrant County Commissioner's Court refuse to implement this cost saving measure even though they have been publicly advised to do so by a Mental Health Expert. (See Stormer's repeated testimony to Commissioner's Court below)
Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn had his photograph taken with acquitted murderer Kyle Rittenhouse.
Rittenhouse gained national attention at age 17 for shooting three men in Kenosha, Wisconsin—two fatally.
Your tax dollars pay the Sheriff’s salary. His actions create a culture of disrespect of life.
You pay the salary of the Republicans on Commissioners Court who refuse to implement policies in spite of overwhelming evidence that would save lives and money.
See the lawsuits.
Rittenhouse gained national attention at age 17 for shooting three men in Kenosha, Wisconsin—two fatally.
Your tax dollars pay the Sheriff’s salary. His actions create a culture of disrespect of life.
You pay the salary of the Republicans on Commissioners Court who refuse to implement policies in spite of overwhelming evidence that would save lives and money.
See the lawsuits.
Too many officers at Tarrant Commissioner's Court to get them all in a photo.
There were approximately 40 Tarrant County Deputies stationed at Commissioner's Court the first time the Court met after Tim O'Hare ordered Commissioner Simmons to keep quiet (because she exposed his use of taxpayer dollars for a personal political consultant). This show of force was presumably because they Republicans feared retaliation from Simmon's supporters.
Wasting our Money And
Making you Less Safe
No Mental Health Public Defenders
“Tarrant County is likely the largest county in the United States without a Public Defender's Office at this point”, said Geoffery Burkhart, executive director of the Texas Indigent Defense Commission. July 22, 2020. https://www.fwweekly.com
Private attorneys (the current system) give campaign contributions, public defenders who do not rely on appointments generally do not give campaign contributions.
Public Defenders can be trained in mental health and know the available resources. Private attorneys cannot afford to take the time to develop this expertise.
It costs eleven times more to treat the mentally ill in jail than in the community and jail is less effective. Are we afraid of them or just mad at them? If we are just mad – they should not be incarcerated. That is the formula. The solution for implementing the formula is Mental Health Public Defenders. The Assistant District Attorney (ADA)- competency attorney saved Dallas County $300,000 the first year the position was created by getting people out of the jail and into hospitals or other treatment (2010). This was a fraction of this ADA’s salary.
The District Attorney can create a Mental Health position by moving a current, experienced prosecutor into that position. But the county needs to create a Public Defenders Office.
Dallas County has 98 public defenders. Tarrant county has zero. These are specialized attorneys that know how to get people out of jail that should not be in jail. Get them into services. On average one half of the people in jail have a diagnosed mental illness and many are there on non-violent charges. One third of the jail population on average are there on drug charges. We could be using best evidence procedures to get to the root causes of why the people end up in jail for these minor offenses - housing, education, healthcare, childcare…BE SMART ON CRIME instead of feeding the Prison industrial complex.
The war on drugs began at a time when drug use was on the decline -Ronald Reagan presidency 1980s. The United States incarceration rate is 6 to 10 times greater than other industrialized nations. Directly traceable to the war on drugs. No other country in the world incarcerates such an astonishing percentage of its racial or ethnic minorities. In 1999 a drug bust incarcerated almost 15% of the black population of Tulia Texas based on the uncorroborated false testimony of a single informant hired by the sheriff. Until 1988, one year of imprisonment had been the maximum for possession of any amount of any drug. The new Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander page 54. In 1991, the sentencing project reported that the number of people behind bars in United States was unprecedented in world, history, and that 1/4 of young African-American men were now under the control of the criminal justice system.
Drug offenses alone account for 2/3 of the rise in the federal inmate population and more than 1/2 of the rise and state prisoners between 1985 and 2000. Race to Incarcerate, Mark Mauer, revised edition (New York: the New York press, 2006) 33
By the end of 2007, more than 7 million Americans, or one in every 31 adults, were behind bars, on probation, or on parole. Pew center on the states, one in 31: The Long Reach of American Corrections, Washington, DC: Pew charitable, trust 2009.
Contributing to the mass, incarceration for drugs:
Grants for drug enforcement
Fed gov providing military equip
Harsh, mandatory federal sentencing guidelines
Making you Less Safe
No Mental Health Public Defenders
“Tarrant County is likely the largest county in the United States without a Public Defender's Office at this point”, said Geoffery Burkhart, executive director of the Texas Indigent Defense Commission. July 22, 2020. https://www.fwweekly.com
Private attorneys (the current system) give campaign contributions, public defenders who do not rely on appointments generally do not give campaign contributions.
Public Defenders can be trained in mental health and know the available resources. Private attorneys cannot afford to take the time to develop this expertise.
It costs eleven times more to treat the mentally ill in jail than in the community and jail is less effective. Are we afraid of them or just mad at them? If we are just mad – they should not be incarcerated. That is the formula. The solution for implementing the formula is Mental Health Public Defenders. The Assistant District Attorney (ADA)- competency attorney saved Dallas County $300,000 the first year the position was created by getting people out of the jail and into hospitals or other treatment (2010). This was a fraction of this ADA’s salary.
The District Attorney can create a Mental Health position by moving a current, experienced prosecutor into that position. But the county needs to create a Public Defenders Office.
Dallas County has 98 public defenders. Tarrant county has zero. These are specialized attorneys that know how to get people out of jail that should not be in jail. Get them into services. On average one half of the people in jail have a diagnosed mental illness and many are there on non-violent charges. One third of the jail population on average are there on drug charges. We could be using best evidence procedures to get to the root causes of why the people end up in jail for these minor offenses - housing, education, healthcare, childcare…BE SMART ON CRIME instead of feeding the Prison industrial complex.
The war on drugs began at a time when drug use was on the decline -Ronald Reagan presidency 1980s. The United States incarceration rate is 6 to 10 times greater than other industrialized nations. Directly traceable to the war on drugs. No other country in the world incarcerates such an astonishing percentage of its racial or ethnic minorities. In 1999 a drug bust incarcerated almost 15% of the black population of Tulia Texas based on the uncorroborated false testimony of a single informant hired by the sheriff. Until 1988, one year of imprisonment had been the maximum for possession of any amount of any drug. The new Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander page 54. In 1991, the sentencing project reported that the number of people behind bars in United States was unprecedented in world, history, and that 1/4 of young African-American men were now under the control of the criminal justice system.
Drug offenses alone account for 2/3 of the rise in the federal inmate population and more than 1/2 of the rise and state prisoners between 1985 and 2000. Race to Incarcerate, Mark Mauer, revised edition (New York: the New York press, 2006) 33
By the end of 2007, more than 7 million Americans, or one in every 31 adults, were behind bars, on probation, or on parole. Pew center on the states, one in 31: The Long Reach of American Corrections, Washington, DC: Pew charitable, trust 2009.
Contributing to the mass, incarceration for drugs:
Grants for drug enforcement
Fed gov providing military equip
Harsh, mandatory federal sentencing guidelines
Wasting our Money
Baby Zenorah born in jail and died case (from the Federal Court's Opinion). Tarrant Taxpayers just paid $1.2 million dollars, largest judgment in Tarrant County history. And the case continues for more damages because EVIDENCE WAS WITHHELD BY TARRANT COUNTY OFFICIALS:
"Shockingly, at no point during her five months of incarceration did Congious receive a legal hearing."
"Congious banged on the window of her cell for help. Blood was
visible on the toilet seat. Although two correctional officers were responsible for monitoring the pregnant Congious, they did not respond to her banging. As a result, Congious gave birth to her
baby girl alone in the cell."
The withheld evidence resulting in continued litigation "Congious did not have the new email showing that Dr. Shaw took no action on the day Congious gave birth despite knowing that she was in pain and in labor. Congious also did not have the expert report discussing this new email."
The Texas Penal Code's Section 37.09 states that a person commits an offense if they knowingly alter, destroy, or conceal evidence during an investigation or official proceeding. The offense can also include making, presenting, or using evidence that is known to be false with the intent to affect the outcome of the investigation.
"Shockingly, at no point during her five months of incarceration did Congious receive a legal hearing."
"Congious banged on the window of her cell for help. Blood was
visible on the toilet seat. Although two correctional officers were responsible for monitoring the pregnant Congious, they did not respond to her banging. As a result, Congious gave birth to her
baby girl alone in the cell."
The withheld evidence resulting in continued litigation "Congious did not have the new email showing that Dr. Shaw took no action on the day Congious gave birth despite knowing that she was in pain and in labor. Congious also did not have the expert report discussing this new email."
The Texas Penal Code's Section 37.09 states that a person commits an offense if they knowingly alter, destroy, or conceal evidence during an investigation or official proceeding. The offense can also include making, presenting, or using evidence that is known to be false with the intent to affect the outcome of the investigation.
Wasting our Money And
Making you Less Safe
Sheriff Refusing to release the entire Video to Commissioner (or public) in Anthony Johnson killing by Jailers
JAILERS killing Anthony Johnson see "Deaths in the Jail" tab
Sheriff refuses to release entire video.
The Sheriff is denying this evidence to Commissioner Simmons when it is her constitutional right and, in fact, her duty to review the evidence to mitigate damages. This will result in litigation, both sides of which are paid by our taxpayer dollars.
"County Commissioner Alisa Simmons said during commissioners court Tuesday that she had requested to watch the video during executive session, outside of the public view, but that request was denied."
"This has been a horrific incident involving many people." Sheriff Waybourn
“There is an additional 9 minutes where my son was dragged around like a ragdoll” mother of Anthony Johnson, who was killed in the jail, April 21, 2024 to Commissioner's Court 6/4/24.
DEMAND THAT THE FULL VIDEO BE RELEASED:
Call the Sheriff's department (817) 884-3099
Wasting our Money And
Making you Less Safe
One Million Dollars of your Money
Second Highest Judgment in Tarrant County History
Javonte Myers.
$$ONE MILLION DOLLARS OF YOUR TAXPAYER MONEY PAID FOR THIS LAWSUIT
"The death of Javonte Myers in June 2020 highlights the ongoing issues at Tarrant County Jail regarding the care of inmates and the effectiveness of oversight mechanisms. Myers, a 28-year-old inmate with a history of severe medical and mental health conditions, including a seizure disorder, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder, was found dead in his cell just two days after being booked.
"When he was found dead in his cell, his body was already exhibiting rigor mortis. An investigation revealed evidence that jail staff had falsified records of routine checks for hours under instructions from their supervisors. This falsification of records came less than a month after the Texas Commission on Jail Standards found Tarrant County Jail out of compliance with minimum observation standards following the suicide of another individual and staff’s failure to check on him.
"Despite assurances of improved monitoring practices, staff were instructed to ignore these guidelines, which coincided with the deaths of two other inmates in the same period. Two officers faced criminal charges related to the falsification of records.
Making you Less Safe
One Million Dollars of your Money
Second Highest Judgment in Tarrant County History
Javonte Myers.
$$ONE MILLION DOLLARS OF YOUR TAXPAYER MONEY PAID FOR THIS LAWSUIT
"The death of Javonte Myers in June 2020 highlights the ongoing issues at Tarrant County Jail regarding the care of inmates and the effectiveness of oversight mechanisms. Myers, a 28-year-old inmate with a history of severe medical and mental health conditions, including a seizure disorder, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder, was found dead in his cell just two days after being booked.
"When he was found dead in his cell, his body was already exhibiting rigor mortis. An investigation revealed evidence that jail staff had falsified records of routine checks for hours under instructions from their supervisors. This falsification of records came less than a month after the Texas Commission on Jail Standards found Tarrant County Jail out of compliance with minimum observation standards following the suicide of another individual and staff’s failure to check on him.
"Despite assurances of improved monitoring practices, staff were instructed to ignore these guidelines, which coincided with the deaths of two other inmates in the same period. Two officers faced criminal charges related to the falsification of records.
Wasting our Money And
Making you Less Safe
Corey Rodrigues Beaten by Jailers
Lawsuit alleging an inmate, Corey Rodrigues, was beaten by Tarrant County jailers and then was left in cell for 2 days.
“Corey Rodrigues sustained various injuries from the July 2020 beating (by jailers), including bleeding in his lungs, a collapsed lung, multiple rib fractures and a broken cheek bone that required surgery. . . Even though he was in great pain after the beating, Rodrigues did not receive medical care for two days. . . . the charges against all three men were dismissed due to “prosecutorial discretion”.
‘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’s Office (Republican elected District Attorney) dismissed all criminal charges against the jailers involved in Rodrigues’ beating, which was caught on tape.’ (see settlement agreement).
The Jailers that beat Rodrigues did not have to pay for this but taxpayers did.
Settles for $200,000.00. 1/19/24
Making you Less Safe
Corey Rodrigues Beaten by Jailers
Lawsuit alleging an inmate, Corey Rodrigues, was beaten by Tarrant County jailers and then was left in cell for 2 days.
“Corey Rodrigues sustained various injuries from the July 2020 beating (by jailers), including bleeding in his lungs, a collapsed lung, multiple rib fractures and a broken cheek bone that required surgery. . . Even though he was in great pain after the beating, Rodrigues did not receive medical care for two days. . . . the charges against all three men were dismissed due to “prosecutorial discretion”.
‘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’s Office (Republican elected District Attorney) dismissed all criminal charges against the jailers involved in Rodrigues’ beating, which was caught on tape.’ (see settlement agreement).
The Jailers that beat Rodrigues did not have to pay for this but taxpayers did.
Settles for $200,000.00. 1/19/24
Wasting our Money And
Making you Less Safe
Another lawsuit due to neglect and overcrowding in the Tarrant County jail.
Kelly Masten
4/11/24
Her family called for her to be transported to the hospital. Instead, she was taken to the jail where she laid in a jail cell suffering seizures for 10 days with no medical attention. "In 2022, a disabled 38-year-old woman named Kelly Masten left a 10-day stint in the Tarrant County Jail comatose and covered in bruises. Masten has a severe form of epilepsy, and the jail did not give her medication, even though her family brought her medicine to the jail, her father said."
4/11/24
Another lawsuit due to neglect and overcrowding in the Tarrant County jail.
“When I finally saw Kelly, my knees buckled. My screams brought hospital security running to us," she wrote. "She looked like two grown men had repeatedly beaten her."
“Doctors placed Masten in a medically induced coma for eight weeks, with no one expecting her to survive, although she did, according to the lawsuit.”
KELLY MASTEN COVERED IN BRUISES WHEN SHE WAS TRANSPORTED FROM JAIL TO HOSPITAL WHERE SHE WAS IN A COMA
Kelly Masten mental capacity of 4 year old (crime: she bit her grandmother who called to have her transported to the hospital). Instead, she was taken to the jail where she laid in a jail cell suffering seizures for 10 days with no medical attention. "In 2022, a disabled 38-year-old woman named Kelly Masten left a 10-day stint in the Tarrant County Jail comatose and covered in bruises. Masten has a severe form of epilepsy, and the jail did not give her medication, even though her family brought her medicine to the jail, her father said."
Lawsuit Pending
Making you Less Safe
Another lawsuit due to neglect and overcrowding in the Tarrant County jail.
Kelly Masten
4/11/24
Her family called for her to be transported to the hospital. Instead, she was taken to the jail where she laid in a jail cell suffering seizures for 10 days with no medical attention. "In 2022, a disabled 38-year-old woman named Kelly Masten left a 10-day stint in the Tarrant County Jail comatose and covered in bruises. Masten has a severe form of epilepsy, and the jail did not give her medication, even though her family brought her medicine to the jail, her father said."
4/11/24
Another lawsuit due to neglect and overcrowding in the Tarrant County jail.
“When I finally saw Kelly, my knees buckled. My screams brought hospital security running to us," she wrote. "She looked like two grown men had repeatedly beaten her."
“Doctors placed Masten in a medically induced coma for eight weeks, with no one expecting her to survive, although she did, according to the lawsuit.”
KELLY MASTEN COVERED IN BRUISES WHEN SHE WAS TRANSPORTED FROM JAIL TO HOSPITAL WHERE SHE WAS IN A COMA
Kelly Masten mental capacity of 4 year old (crime: she bit her grandmother who called to have her transported to the hospital). Instead, she was taken to the jail where she laid in a jail cell suffering seizures for 10 days with no medical attention. "In 2022, a disabled 38-year-old woman named Kelly Masten left a 10-day stint in the Tarrant County Jail comatose and covered in bruises. Masten has a severe form of epilepsy, and the jail did not give her medication, even though her family brought her medicine to the jail, her father said."
Lawsuit Pending
Wasting our Money And
Making you Less Safe
$750,000.00 of your money paid in this lawsuit
Georgia Kay Baldwin dies of dehydration in Tarrant County Jail
A woman with severe mental health issues died from dehydration in a Tarrant County jail cell in what a lawsuit calls a “a tragic, completely unnecessary death.” She was in jail for making phone calls.
George Baldwin died of thirst in the Tarrant County jail. Tarrant County taxpayers will pay $750,000 in this lawsuit. This is happening in part because judges are not moving the cases. A recent study showed that the average sentence to the Tarrant County jail was 70 days while the average stay there is 133 days. People are staying in the jail twice the length of their sentence. It is even worse for mentally ill inmates. The average stay for a mentally ill inmate is 282 days. The average sentence for the crimes they committed is eight days. It cost you $100 per day to keep an inmate in jail. The cost is closer to $300 per day when the inmate is mentally ill.
This is your money.
Vote for fiscal responsibility, vote for every Democrat on the ballot.
Making you Less Safe
$750,000.00 of your money paid in this lawsuit
Georgia Kay Baldwin dies of dehydration in Tarrant County Jail
A woman with severe mental health issues died from dehydration in a Tarrant County jail cell in what a lawsuit calls a “a tragic, completely unnecessary death.” She was in jail for making phone calls.
George Baldwin died of thirst in the Tarrant County jail. Tarrant County taxpayers will pay $750,000 in this lawsuit. This is happening in part because judges are not moving the cases. A recent study showed that the average sentence to the Tarrant County jail was 70 days while the average stay there is 133 days. People are staying in the jail twice the length of their sentence. It is even worse for mentally ill inmates. The average stay for a mentally ill inmate is 282 days. The average sentence for the crimes they committed is eight days. It cost you $100 per day to keep an inmate in jail. The cost is closer to $300 per day when the inmate is mentally ill.
This is your money.
Vote for fiscal responsibility, vote for every Democrat on the ballot.
Wasting our Money And
Making you Less Safe
Ricky Farmer.
Ricky Farmer, 57, died on February 26, 2020, after not receiving his necessary medication for grand mal seizures for three days. He was found unresponsive in his jail cell and later declared dead at John Peter Smith Hospital. The sheriff’s custodial death report labeled the death as “natural,” attributing it to “Anoxia / Secondary outside of hospital cardiac arrest” due to a pre-existing medical condition, without detailing the circumstances of the death. Farmer was previously known to have mental health issues and was kept in a single cell, supposedly for his protection.
Wasting our Money And
Making you Less Safe
DEAN STEWART
County commissioners recently agreed to pay $1 million to the family of Javonte Myers, who died of a seizure disorder in his cell in 2020. Last year, the family of Dean Stewart, who died by suicide in the jail, received a $400,000 settlement.
Making you Less Safe
Ricky Farmer.
Ricky Farmer, 57, died on February 26, 2020, after not receiving his necessary medication for grand mal seizures for three days. He was found unresponsive in his jail cell and later declared dead at John Peter Smith Hospital. The sheriff’s custodial death report labeled the death as “natural,” attributing it to “Anoxia / Secondary outside of hospital cardiac arrest” due to a pre-existing medical condition, without detailing the circumstances of the death. Farmer was previously known to have mental health issues and was kept in a single cell, supposedly for his protection.
Wasting our Money And
Making you Less Safe
DEAN STEWART
County commissioners recently agreed to pay $1 million to the family of Javonte Myers, who died of a seizure disorder in his cell in 2020. Last year, the family of Dean Stewart, who died by suicide in the jail, received a $400,000 settlement.
Wasting our Money And
Making you Less Safe
Assistant District Attorneys responding to Medical Claims
The Tarrant District Attorney has had to assign 3 full time Assistant District Attorneys to the hospital because of all the lawsuits. “Tarrant County Jail Related Medical Claims (see the hospital contract).
Dallas does not have to do that and there are more inmates there.
Cost $1,463,608 for 2 years.
Making you Less Safe
Assistant District Attorneys responding to Medical Claims
The Tarrant District Attorney has had to assign 3 full time Assistant District Attorneys to the hospital because of all the lawsuits. “Tarrant County Jail Related Medical Claims (see the hospital contract).
Dallas does not have to do that and there are more inmates there.
Cost $1,463,608 for 2 years.
County Judge Tim O’Hare, District Attorney Phil Sorrells and Sheriff Bill Waybourn spoke about the county’s election integrity unit at a True Texas Project meeting April 10, 2024. True Texas project is in Tarrant County and “urges attendees to embrace once-fringe ideologies such as Christian nationalism or the Great Replacement Theory.” Founder “McCarty wrote on social media that she sympathized with the gunman who murdered 23 Hispanic people at an El Paso Walmart in 2019 — one of many mass shooters who have been motivated by a belief in Great Replacement Theory.”
“True Texas Project is a key part of a powerful political network that West Texas oil tycoons, Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks have used to push the state GOP and Legislature to adopt their hardline opposition to immigration, LGBTQ+ rights and public education. Dunn and Wilks are by far the biggest donors to the Republican Party of Texas”
Bud Kennedy states "When my own vote was thrown out completely in a 2020 election — because I didn’t use the same kind of pen to sign the mail-in application and ballot — most of the ballot review board members canceling my vote were members of the True Texas Project. They were appointed by the Republican county chairman and told to challenge ballots."
"In so many words, the event’s message seems to be, “Native-born white Protestants are real Americans, and you’re not.. . .Black Americans and American Indians are included, but only if they affirm the “domination and pre-eminence of the European derived peoples, their institutions, and their way of life.”
"The True Texas Project’s message is now much more direct: Foreigners are inferior, and native-born white Christians should rule."
“True Texas Project is a key part of a powerful political network that West Texas oil tycoons, Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks have used to push the state GOP and Legislature to adopt their hardline opposition to immigration, LGBTQ+ rights and public education. Dunn and Wilks are by far the biggest donors to the Republican Party of Texas”
Bud Kennedy states "When my own vote was thrown out completely in a 2020 election — because I didn’t use the same kind of pen to sign the mail-in application and ballot — most of the ballot review board members canceling my vote were members of the True Texas Project. They were appointed by the Republican county chairman and told to challenge ballots."
"In so many words, the event’s message seems to be, “Native-born white Protestants are real Americans, and you’re not.. . .Black Americans and American Indians are included, but only if they affirm the “domination and pre-eminence of the European derived peoples, their institutions, and their way of life.”
"The True Texas Project’s message is now much more direct: Foreigners are inferior, and native-born white Christians should rule."
"The True Texas Project was added to national list of extremist groups in 2022."
"Experts on terrorism and extremism said the lineup (at their conference held in Fort Worth's
Botanic Gardens July 12-13, 2024) is particularly concerning because it brings together more mainstream conservative speakers with fringe figures who have close links to neo-Nazis and other far-right extremists."
“These are the type of people that I’m most concerned about from an extremism standpoint,” said Elizabeth Neumann, who served as a senior Department of Homeland Security official for three years under former President Donald Trump. “A number of them have been making arguments — some of them supposedly Biblical — that violence is okay, and that violence is justified by Scripture for the purposes of establishing a Christian nation.”
Botanic Gardens July 12-13, 2024) is particularly concerning because it brings together more mainstream conservative speakers with fringe figures who have close links to neo-Nazis and other far-right extremists."
“These are the type of people that I’m most concerned about from an extremism standpoint,” said Elizabeth Neumann, who served as a senior Department of Homeland Security official for three years under former President Donald Trump. “A number of them have been making arguments — some of them supposedly Biblical — that violence is okay, and that violence is justified by Scripture for the purposes of establishing a Christian nation.”
Wasting our Money And
Making you Less Safe
Only .08% of the mentally ill in Texas receive government assistance for their mental health needs. Many end up in your local jail on non-violent, low level charges. A Tarrant County man spent 90 days in jail for failing to move for a street sweeper (a crime that only carries a punishment of a fine - not jail time) costing you approximately $20,000.00 unnecessarily for his incarceration.
IF THE MENTALLY ILL DO NOT RECEIVE TREATMENT WHEN THEY COME INTO CONTACT WITH GOVERNMENT AGENCIES THEY CONTINUE TO CYCLE THROUG THE SYSTEM AND DETERIORATE. Brain Scans (SPECT scan – Single-photon Emission Computerized Tomography) depict loss of brain function.
Brain with substance abuse v. a normal brain.
This is what Tarrant County Commissioner Alisa Simmons is trying to fix, but the majority on the Court vote against systems that would save money and lives.
Making you Less Safe
Only .08% of the mentally ill in Texas receive government assistance for their mental health needs. Many end up in your local jail on non-violent, low level charges. A Tarrant County man spent 90 days in jail for failing to move for a street sweeper (a crime that only carries a punishment of a fine - not jail time) costing you approximately $20,000.00 unnecessarily for his incarceration.
IF THE MENTALLY ILL DO NOT RECEIVE TREATMENT WHEN THEY COME INTO CONTACT WITH GOVERNMENT AGENCIES THEY CONTINUE TO CYCLE THROUG THE SYSTEM AND DETERIORATE. Brain Scans (SPECT scan – Single-photon Emission Computerized Tomography) depict loss of brain function.
Brain with substance abuse v. a normal brain.
This is what Tarrant County Commissioner Alisa Simmons is trying to fix, but the majority on the Court vote against systems that would save money and lives.
BRAIN WITH SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND NORMAL BRAIN
|
|
