The deaths in Tarrant County have all occurred since Bill Waybourn was elected sheriff in 2017, and local officials want federal oversight of the facility. (…) Less than 24 hours later, her son called and said he had been arrested and was in the Tarrant County Jail in Fort Worth. The 31-year-old Marine veteran was held on charges of evading arrest and drug possession. “I told him to be safe in there, and we will work on getting you out of there on Monday,” Jacqualyne Johnson remembered. But he died on April 21 inside the jail. According to authorities, a struggle took place between Johnson and several officers as deputies were conducting a routine contraband check. Surveillance footage and a cellphone video show several officers struggling with Johnson while attempting to handcuff him outside of his cell. Officer Rafael Moreno knelt on Johnson’s back. Johnson can be heard responding: “I can’t breathe.” The footage did not show the full encounter, according to Daryl Washington, the attorney representing Johnson’s family. This month, the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled Johnson’s death a homicide by asphyxiation. Last month, a grand jury indicted Tarrant County Sheriff’s Officer jailer Moreno and Lt. Joel Garcia on murder charges. Garcia’s attorney released a statement to KTXA-TV in Fort Worth, saying the officer was “heartbroken” about Johnson’s death but that he committed “no crime.” Johnson was one of 64 people who have died in the Tarrant County Jail in the last seven years. The causes included suicides, overdoses — and fatal encounters with staff. Multiple officials in Texas are sounding the alarm for federal intervention at the jail. In early June, Rep. Marc Veasey (D-Texas) urged the Department of Justice to launch an investigation into “the distressing pattern of inmate deaths and jail incidents at the Tarrant County Jail in Fort Worth.” Veasey also wrote a letter to the Justice Department in May, raising alarms about people in the jail dying due to drug overdoses and poor supervision. “From physical altercations to drug overdoses and even an unattended birth, the loss of any life within correctional facilities is intolerable and warrants immediate investigation and action,” the letter said. Critics have also homed in on Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn, who is in charge of the jail. “The sheriff has lost all institutional control of that facility, and it needs to be controlled by the feds at this point. I don’t know how many deaths have to occur,” Washington, the lawyer for Johnson’s family, said.
via huff: 64 Deaths Inside A Texas Jail Are Increasing Scrutiny Of A Right-Wing Sheriff