Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn defended the conditions inside the state’s third-largest jail during a panel Q&A this week.
Waybourn said with space for 4,600 beds, the jail in Tarrant County is often at, or near, that capacity - adding the jail is often the front door for many who come into contact with law enforcement with substance addiction.
“You’ve heard some talk about being a large mental health facility,” Waybourn said. “It is.”
But the talk that brought more than 100 to an Arlington sub-courthouse was around the 60 in-custody deaths at the jail since 2018.
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Waybourn defended the jail as part of a panel put together Thursday night by Tarrant County Precinct 2 Commissioner Alisa L. Simmons.
“We’re the largest, cleanest, safest jail in Texas,” Waybourn said.
Waybourn says 54 of the in-custody deaths happened at a medical facility with inmates dying of natural causes.
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But the sheriff has also drawn criticism for a program sending 500 inmates over the last two years to a private prison in Garza County near Lubbock, the sight of one of in-custody death.
State Representative Chris Turner, a Democrat from Arlington questioned whether the sheriff’s department involvement in investigating election fraud and assisting immigration enforcement has distracted from what he called the sheriff’s core mission, “running the jail well.”
“Do you agree that 60 deaths in 7 years is too many to have in the Tarrant County jail?” Turner asked Waybourn at the forum.
“I promise you, I don’t want to have one,” Waybourn responded.
Waybourn, who seeks his third, 4-year term as sheriff in November, says he welcomes public input and eyes on the jail.
“We’d love to give you a tour and show you what’s going on in Tarrant County Jail,” Waybourn told the audience at the forum.
