Weekly news round-up 5/5/25

Read the highlights of Texas Jail Project news coverage below and click on the links to read the full articles.

KERA News: Woman’s death in Tarrant County Jail custody caused by dehydration, medical examiner rules

Kimberly Phillips, who died in custody of Tarrant County Jail in February, was not fed for days prior to her hospitalization. Her family’s attorney, Chidi Anunobi, said “Tarrant County continues to display a lack of compassion and abdication of responsibility in Kimberly’s death that is sadly consistent with its history in the several cases of inmate death and abuse that has occurred in Tarrant County.”

Fort Worth Star-Telegram: Tarrant medical examiner: Jail death the result of dehydration, malnutrition

Another article about Kimberly Phillips’ custody death. The independent autopsy report found that she died of starvation. Her family plans to file a lawsuit.

KERA News: Tarrant County had noncompliant jail death investigations. Now it’s handling a Dallas County case 

Texas Commission on Jail Standards picked Tarrant County to investigate a custody death in Dallas County Jail despite Tarrant County’s failure to comply with the Sandra Bland Act.