Tarrant County Jail saw a decrease in jail deaths last year — but one county commissioner raised concerns about current inmates and their treatment while in custody.
Sheriff Bill Waybourn briefed commissioners on the jail’s 2025 statistics, reading from an annual jail report released by the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office in January.
Tarrant County Jail had six deaths last year – the lowest number in years and what Waybourn said is a 64% reduction in deaths since 2020.
There’s been 73 deaths at the jail since 2017, according to the sheriff's office — the same year Waybourn took office, although the number of in-custody deaths annually has gone down. Of those, 52 were due to medical or natural causes. Waybourn said the jail has increased its medical staff and always have a doctor on site.
The year 2020 had the most with 17 deaths, but Waybourn said 11 of those were due to COVID-19. The county ranked fifth in custodial deaths last year.
Waybourn said although he knows there’s been “a lot of public discussion” about jail deaths, the jail has been working on several improvements to how it operates.
“I don't think anybody in this room knows the date and time that they're exiting this world. And we don't have the ability to resurrect people. But I will say this -- I think John Quincy Adams said it the best, it is our duty to do, and God's got the results. So we've set the table for some incredible medical upgrade in Tarrant County Jail. And I think will be the model at this.”
Commissioner Alisa Simmons said she still gets “way too many calls” from people who have family members in custody and are concerned about a lack of medical or mental health treatment. She said she’s received at least three different calls since Friday from concerned families.
Simmons told Waybourn she’s not trying to do his job, but residents need him to be more accessible.
“I’m just trying to help these people,” Simmons said. “That's what I was elected to do. It's hard to sleep when you hear stories like this.”
Tarrant County and Waybourn have faced scrutiny from the public several times throughout the years over its jail deaths, with details from specific cases raising concerns from families and advocacy groups. Most recently, Texas Jail Project joined others at the county courthouse March 1 demanding justice for people who have had a family member die in custody at the county jail.
The most recent death was 40-year-old Shuntae Broadus, who was found unresponsive in her cell Dec. 21.
Broadus was transported to John Peter Smith Hospital, where she died later that day. Her cause of death is still pending, but a custodial death report sent to the Attorney General’s office indicated Broadus may have had mental health problems.
This is the first time since last September Waybourn has attended a commissioners court meeting to give a briefing related to jail deaths. In September, he told commissioners he would not take part in any more briefings about jail deaths called by Simmons, who has criticized the jail in the past and called for more accountability amid deaths.
That includes the ongoing legal battle over Anthony Johnson Jr., who died in custody in 2024. Johnson Jr.’s cause of death was ruled a homicide by asphyxiation after jailers pepper sprayed him, and one knelt on his back for more than a minute. Two officers, including the one who knelt on his back, were indicted for murder and are awaiting a trial date.
Johnson Jr.’s family sued Tarrant County and 15 detention officers later that year, but a federal judge dismissed the county from the suit last year after ruling the Johnsons failed to prove the county was at fault for his death.
The Johnsons filed an appeal in December, arguing the jail’s history of inmate deaths is enough evidence the jail’s policies and training fail to keep people safe while in custody.
“These are not statistics, they were someone's child, brother, father, mother, sister,” Simmons said. “They were human beings. And for many of those families, the most painful part is that they are still waiting for answers about what happened to their loved ones.”
Penelope Rivera is KERA's Tarrant County Accountability Reporter. Got a tip? Email Penelope Rivera at privera@kera.org.
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