Weekly news round-up 7/14/25
July 18, 2025
Read the highlights of Texas Jail Project news coverage below and click on the links to read the full articles. Fort Worth Star-Telegram: Federal judge dismisses lawsuit alleging ‘drugs run…
Topics: 2025news, Custody Death, Medical, Mental Health, outsourcing, TCJS, Use of Force
Read the highlights of Texas Jail Project news coverage below and click on the links to read the full articles.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram: Federal judge dismisses lawsuit alleging ‘drugs run rampant’ in Tarrant jail
A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit brought by the family of Trelynn Wormley, alleging that Tarrant County Jail and the company that provides commissary failed to protect people with mental illness and allowed drugs to enter the jail. The judge determined that there were not enough drug overdoses to establish a pattern.
Cassandra Johnson, Wormley’s mother, is an an active member of the Texas Jail Project community, who spoke to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
“I’m not going to stop,” she said. “I’m not going to be quiet. I’m not going to be silent over this senseless death he suffered in there. We’re going to find a way where they’re going to stop protecting these jails.”
“They work together to cover their name,” Johnson said. “They don’t hear the voices of the public. They don’t hear the voices of families. They don’t care.”
Johnson spoke at the Texas Commission on Jail Standards quarterly meeting in May. Watch her testimony below.
Abc13: Family pushing for answers after HCSO records 11th in custody death this year
Texas Jail Project executive director and co-founder, Krish Gundu, spoke to Abc13 after the 11th death in Harris County Jail this year. Harold Alexander Jr., who died after just 16 days in jail, lived with mental illness. Gundu continues to advocate, saying that these custody deaths are linked to a system failure. We see so many preventable jail deaths because the state and counties are not investing enough in mental health care and wraparound services.
So if we really truly want community safety and public safety, we have to be robustly investing in a community-based mental health system
Find more reporting on this custody death and TJP’s advocacy from Hoodline.
Full Article at Abc13Houston Press: Family of Man Who Died After Being Tased in Harris County Jail Has More Questions
Alexis Jovany Cardenas died in early July as he was being released from jail after staff tased and restrained him. He had been arrested after a police officer asked for his ID and discovered that there was an old warrant for a traffic violation.
Texas Jail Project (TJP) community organizer, Amaal Sharif, spoke to Houston Press, “There was absolutely no need for [Alexis Cardenas] to be booked for a traffic violation.”
We urge the court to look into why the jail is booking people on Class C misdemeanors when it is still noncompliant as of June 30.
After he was arrested, Cardenas’ family heard nothing from him until they were notified by the jail that he had died. His children are struggling to grapple with the loss of their father. Cardenas’ cousin, Melissa Cardenas, spoke at Harris County Commissioners Court and spoke to Houston Press.
“We don’t know what happened,” Melissa Cardenas said. “He was healthy; he was 32 years old. He was 5 [feet], 7 [inches], maybe 200 pounds. I don’t understand why they couldn’t control him. Even if he was having a mental breakdown or was paranoid, how many people did it take to control him to where he was unresponsive?”
Meanwhile, there is still uncertainty whether this death will count as a custody death because the County has indicated that they had already released Cardenas. TJP executive director and co-founder, Krish Gundu, has asked why an officer would have been authorized to tase Cardenas if he was not in custody.
County Judge Lina Hidalgo said, “These folks are not even convicted, and if they were, the vast majority of them are not getting a death sentence,” Hidalgo said. “I don’t have enough words to explain the tragedy of the situation. I think it continues to happen, and I think it’s important not to normalize it. My heart goes out to those families.”
Meanwhile, Harris County continues to send people to Mississippi and Louisiana, where there is often less oversight into what is happening. Texas Jail Project continues to call for the County to cancel those contracts.