3mo ago

Officials Play “Accountability Ping Pong” With Jail Deaths in Texas

5 comments

Just a reminder that any American can easily end up in these dangerous jails through any kind of accusation, even if obviously made up, or simple bad luck.
And you can easily end up dead in there.
This should concern us all.
- Yep, the majority of these deaths were pre-trial, not convicted, presumably innocent people. What does it mean to be innocent until proven guilty if they murder you in jail?
  
  It means that you are an American, unfortunately.
  We can and need to do better.
Accountability ping pong? I'm sorry?
Anyone who followed any illegal orders. I don't care who is at the top. We'll get there when we get there.
Anyone who followed orders illegally is accountable.
These were among the more than two dozen people who died in Tarrant County jail custody since 2021 whose deaths weren’t fully investigated according to state law. Family and friends of people who died in the jail have asked state officials to intervene after Bolts revealed last year that Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn had flouted state law requiring outside law enforcement investigations into all jail deaths—a key element of 2017’s Sandra Bland Act that was designed to keep sheriffs from investigating themselves when people die in their custody.
These marginalized people are in jail, so they must be bad. Nothing to see here. Move along.