Jail & Criminal Justice Reform action team
Jail & Criminal Justice Reform
Huge turnout at Tarrant County Commissioners Court, May 7, 2024. Two overflow rooms were filled in addition to this main courtroom.
Our action team meets via Zoom on the Monday evening prior to Tarrant County Commissioners Court meetings.
Contact Nan Terry or Josh Lucas, co-team leaders, for more information.
This action team works to keep public pressure on the Tarrant County Jail, the Tarrant County Commissioners Court, and the criminal justice system by:
making public comments at Commissioners Court
writing emails and submitting online comments to officials
traveling to Austin for meetings of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards
meeting with officials
in-depth research of the issues
special projects
Deaths in each of the past three years at the Tarrant County Jail far exceed the annual national mortality rate. As a federal judge has found, the documented allegations of deficient supervision, suspicious inmate deaths, and the highest mortality rate in North Texas are sufficient to “put a reasonable policymaker on notice about potential condition of confinement issues at the jail.” (Memorandum Opinion & Order, ECF No. 61, at 27-28, Congious v. City of Fort Worth et al., Docket No. 4:22-cv-00092 (N.D. Tex. Mar. 31, 2023).
Here is one of our Action Team members, Becky Delaune, making a public comment at Tarrant County Commissioners Court in 2023. Powerful words.
". . . For the long term we need bail reform. In Tarrant County well over half the inmates are held only because they cannot make bail. I believe this is criminal. And it lacks respect, understanding, and compassion for the reality of these individuals' lives . . ."
Questions?
Josh Lucas, Co-Team Leader
Nan Terry, Co-Team Leader