Betty Madewell speaks fondly of her son, Bobby. 51-year-old Bobby Madewell, Jr died last March in the Gregg county jail. His family filed a lawsuit against the jail just a few weeks ago. The days are a little longer now for Betty Madewell of Longview, who says she is still mourning the loss of her son, Bobby.”It’s very hard, we miss him dearly. We miss him every day,” she says.

Our sympathies to the family of Debra Ingram Duffie. I thought I had brought up an old email by mistake when I saw the words Inmate Dies at Gregg County Jail. Surely this was a story about one of others who’ve died there since 2010, like Amy Lynn and Aaron, and previously, Misty Beene. This year, Bobby Madewell died there, no doubt also under the tender mercies and neglectful care of Gregg County’s medical staff and notorious Dr. Lewis Browne. Now, a new person has died, but they managed to get her off site so technically she wasn’t a jail death. Still the same because we suspect if she’d gotten decent care, if she’d been on the outside, she might have lived. Our sympathies to Ms. Duffie’s family. Please tell them to email or call Texas Jail Project.

a. Consider changing everything. People being held in your jail for whatever reason should not be subjected to a death sentence because of your policies, practices, and your jail doctor. No matter if you disagree with what meds inmates had been taking or how they took them, people incarcerated there have a constitutional right to

Another Longview mother saw her son die because of Gregg County’s policies last week.
“I told them he needed his medication,” said Betty Madewell, referring to 51-year-old Bobby Madewell. “His doctor had prescribed him Xanax, and I told them he needed his Xanax or he would start having seizures.”
(Click on CONTINUE READING to see the excellent story from the Longview News-Journal, a local paper holding county officials accountable. They asked challenging questions, provided the background of similar deaths there, and published the list of terrible symptoms accompanying Xanax withdrawal.)

This Longview News Journal article examines some of the many complications that occur when jails hold people with mental conditions and medications that are not on “their list,” but Amy Lynn’s mother puts forth a straightforward idea: couldn’t jail staff act with common sense “when inmates exhibit seizures, become incoherent, and howl,” like her daughter did?
The lawsuit again the Gregg County Jail has ended with a settlement, but the pain and questioning continues. Texas Jail Project, the Cowling family and many other families want to see officials work together, to find ways to prevent suffering and deaths in the future.

It’s about time. We the people and Amy Lynn Cowling’s family will see her tragic death scrutinized in a court of law.
The wrongful-death lawsuit against Gregg County Jail is set for trial in January, two years after 33-year-old Amy Lynn was jailed for a traffic ticket on Christmas eve and not given necessary medication or assistance during the next four days, until she died December 29th, 2010. Once more, we offer our sympathies to the family. Her mother Vicki Bankhead and the father of her three minor children filed the suit. Families suffer when they have to go through a lawsuit on top of losing their loved one, but they achieve so much in terms of raising awareness and changing our jails. A round of applause for Vicki and for Amy’s aunt Lisa and all the others who have never stopped speaking out about Amy Lynn! We await the trial–and hope for justice.

A preliminary report reveals shocking treatment of Amy; Robyn Claridy’s excellent story begins with these 2 chilling paragraphs:A Gregg County inmate found unresponsive in a jail separation cell was discovered kneeling in a praying position beside her bed before being removed and declared dead a short time later. Amy Lynn Cowling, 33, of Gilmer was