Trelynn Wormley had been in the Tarrant County Jail for six months when she died of a fentanyl overdose, county records show.

It was bad enough for him to die from drugs he appears to have obtained in prison, his mother, Cassandra Johnson, told the Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) on Thursday.

She later learned his death had received no third-party investigation — an apparent violation of state law.

“I need answers. I need responsibility. I need transparency,” Johnson said.

Activists from Johnson and Tarrant counties traveled to the state capitol in Austin to ask TCJS — the state prison watchdog — why this was allowed to happen.

Under Sandra Bland Lawan outside law enforcement agency must come in and conduct its own investigation into each death in prison custody. Tarrant County didn’t do that, according to TCJS.

The Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office, which runs the jail, listed the Fort Worth Police Department as the third-party agency investigating more than 20 deaths over a three-year period. But the FWPD is not investigating those deaths, a police spokesman said said KERA and the Fort Worth Report in October.

Instead, police are reviewing the sheriff’s own internal investigations.

This breach was first reported by Bolts magazine. The sheriff’s office confirmed that the FWPD only conducts background checks, but insists the practice does not violate state law.

Without a third-party investigation into each death, there can be no accountability if something goes wrong, said Tarrant County Jail resident and activist Nan Terry.

“The sheriff investigates his own custodial deaths — kind of like the fox guarding the hen house,” Terry said.

The sheriff’s office can do its own investigations, but a third-party investigation is still needed, TCJS Executive Director Brandon Wood said last month.

According to Wood, his agency informed the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office that it needed to obtain third-party investigations. If not, the prison could be declared noncompliant with state standards.

TCJS missed the violations until a reporter called about them, Wood said. He blamed a stockpile of death-in-custody documents and staff turnover for the oversight.

“It was one of those that we played for too long, unfortunately, in that area,” he said.

Johnson personally criticized TCJS on Thursday.

“The commissioner should be responsible for helping the safety and welfare of people incarcerated in county jails,” Johnson said. “But it seems your priority is to protect the sheriff and limit liability in the jail. Please prove me wrong. Please get involved.”

Goldie VanZandt is an attorney for The Texas Prison Projecta nonprofit organization that works for better treatment of people in Texas prisons. She read a statement from the organization’s co-founder, Krish Gundu, asking what TCJS would do about the issue.

“The next step you take will tell the community whether your mission is to ensure the safety of incarcerated individuals and staff or to protect a sheriff who believes he is above the law,” VanZandt read.

KERA contacted Wood Thursday for a response to the criticism. In an email, he did not address the public’s concerns, but again said TCJS has been in contact with the sheriff’s office.

“We await their response,” he wrote.

KERA has also reached out to the sheriff’s office and will update this story with any comment.

The Fort Worth Report and KERA submitted a records request for all death checks conducted by the Fort Worth Police Department. But TCJS — along with Tarrant County — objected to the release of some of the records.

TCJS officials are asking the attorney general to allow them to withhold records of 10 deaths in custody, which they say are related to “an incomplete investigation into a death in custody by the Prison Standards Commission.”

The Tarrant County Prosecutor’s Office and the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office also objected to the release of those records, on different grounds. County officials said the information at hand is related to the “detection, investigation or prosecution of crimes” and that releasing the information would interfere with active investigations or prosecutions.

The review of Chasity Bonner’s death is among those the county is trying to hold back. The Tarrant County Coroner’s Office determined Bonner the cause of death was atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseaseor hardened arteries. The county has refused to give Bonner’s family the full autopsy report, citing an ongoing investigation into her death.

Other records the county wants to keep confidential are related to 2022 jail deaths.

TCJS staff said the remaining in-custody death review records it is willing to release include 2,061 pages and will cost $772.88.

In addition to speaking at TCJS and Tarrant County Commissioners Court SessionsJohnson is too suing her son’s death in federal court. The lawsuit alleges that Tarrant County has a practice of “allowing drugs to run rampant in its correctional facilities.”

Tarrant County has spent about $3.5 million in recent years to end the lawsuits DEATHS and accusations of abuse and neglect in prison.

More than 65 people have died in county custody since 2017. That includes Anthony Johnson Jr., who died of asphyxiation in April after jailers pepper-sprayed him and one kneed him in the back. Two former jailers were accused of murder.

Do you have a tip? Email Miranda Suarez at [email protected]. You can follow Miranda on Twitter @MirandaRSuarez.

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