Tarrant County residents demanded details surrounding\u00a0the first jail death of the year<\/a>\u00a0at Tuesday’s commissioners court meeting \u2014 but left with none, amid a recent policy change prohibiting commissioners from requesting information on in-custody deaths.<\/p>\n Commissioners can no longer request briefings on certain topics during commissioners court meetings \u2014 including jail deaths, ongoing law enforcement investigations, active criminal prosecutions or active lawsuits \u2014 after the court’s Republican majority approved\u00a0a new policy\u00a0<\/a>in February. Commissioners Alisa Simmons and Roderick Miles Jr., both Democrats, voted against the proposal.<\/p>\n Tuesday’s meeting was the first time the public received no official acknowledgement of a jail death as part of the county commissioners court meeting agenda.<\/p>\n John Barr, 36, died at a nearby hospital April 19, hours after he was found unresponsive in his jail cell. His cause and manner of death were pending as of Tuesday on the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s website.<\/p>\n A handful of residents raised concerns about Barr’s death during Tuesday’s public comment portion, like Linda Hanratty, who said she was saddened by the lack of information surrounding his death.<\/p>\n “I am pleased that there have been not so many jail deaths this year, in fact this is the first,” she said. “But the public needs to have more information about each jail death so we can support the sheriff’s efforts to limit them.”<\/p>\n Resident Robert Vann accused the sheriff’s office of lacking transparency when it comes to in-custody deaths.<\/p>\n “<\/strong>I’m not sure that anyone has an exact count of how many souls have met their demise in that facility,” Vann told commissioners.<\/p>\n There have been at least 74 deaths at the jail since Sheriff Bill Waybourn took office in 2017\u2014 although jail deaths were\u00a0at their lowest last year since 2020<\/a>. It’s one of the county’s most contentious issues, with people every month\u00a0demanding accountability\u00a0<\/a>from the sheriff.<\/p>\n KERA reached out to Waybourn’s office for a comment and will update this story with any response.<\/p>\n Tarrant County has spent\u00a0more than $4.3 million in legal payouts since 2022\u00a0<\/a>in cases involving deaths and allegations of abuse and neglect in the jail.<\/p>\n Most recently, the county\u00a0has spent<\/a>\u00a0at least $635,000 in legal fees to represent itself\u00a0and jailers<\/a>\u00a0named in an ongoing suit\u00a0from the family of Anthony Johnson Jr.,\u00a0<\/a>who died after a jailer kneeled on his back for more than a minute.<\/p>\n