Commissioner Tarrant wants the sheriff to explain how the prison works. He says there is no point

A Tarrant County commissioner requested a briefing from the sheriff's office on standard jail procedures.

No one from the sheriff's office showed up to deliver it.

Instead, Democrat Alisa Simmons, who had asked for the briefing to be added to Tuesday's agenda, grilled an empty lectern and asked questions she had written for Republican Sheriff Bill Waybourn.

In July, KERA reported, citing operating procedures it had in its possession, that the prison had not updated its “restraint policies” in over 15 years.

Simmons referenced the article and added that she had not received the same documents despite requesting them. She said it seemed like the sheriff's office's policy was not to release anything.

Fellow Democrat Roy Brooks also expressed frustration with the sheriff's office's decision not to appear.

“As a body, we have a right to be informed,” Brooks said.

County Administrator Chandler Meritt – who often speaks on behalf of the sheriff's office when no representative appears – read into the record an email he received from the sheriff's office 35 minutes before the meeting began.

“Our office will respectfully decline to provide public instruction on the Tarrant County Sheriff's Office's standard operating procedures,” the email states. “TCSO is subject to strict rules and regulations, not only internal policies, but also those of the State of Texas. Currently, the Sheriff's Office follows the guidelines of the SOPs, the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, the Texas Government Code, the Texas Occupation Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure, and various Tarrant County policies. Public discussion of our policies and procedures would be neither productive nor practical.”

The sheriff's office responded to a request for comment Tuesday afternoon.

“For the Tarrant County Sheriff's Office to explain all 250+ standard operating procedures would take approximately 4 1/2 hours and would require multiple expert testimony. This is not a practical idea and Commissioner Simmons knows it. This is political sensationalism on her part,” Waybourn said in a statement.

The statement also said that operating procedures have been updated in recent years.

“We have updated many policies since I took office in 2017, and we are on track for TCSO to become the first Major County Sheriff's Office to be accredited through the Texas Police Chiefs Association accreditation program,” Waybourn said.

Republican County Commissioner Manny Ramirez said he too was disappointed by the sheriff's decision not to make the office's policies and procedures public.

“I agree with Commissioner Simmons that industry-wide, in law enforcement, general orders, certain SOPs, not necessarily even specific, but general orders are publicly available. Many of them are posted on websites,” Ramirez said.

Before being elected county commissioner, Ramirez served with the Fort Worth Police Department and headed the police union.

“I think in this case radical transparency is probably the best strategy,” Ramirez said. “That's why I would like to see the general orders published.”

Ramirez has repeatedly called for more transparency from the sheriff's office since the death of a man incarcerated in the jail in April.

Waybourn and representatives from the sheriff's office have regularly refused to appear at Commissioners Court meetings since Anthony Johnson Jr.'s death. They appeared for two briefings at the May 21 Commissioners Court meeting.

Johnson's sister, Janell Johnson, regularly speaks at Commissioners Court meetings. On Tuesday, she again called for the release of the full video showing her brother's death and the aftermath.

The portion released by the sheriff's office ends when Johnson appears to be unresponsive.

“That's why the sheriff will not release the tape. This tape shows you 15 years of policy,” Johnson said.

The Texas Attorney General's Office has ruled that Tarrant County may withhold the full video due to the ongoing Texas Rangers investigation.