Tarrant mental health awareness month ‘disheartening’ for family of man who died in jail

Read the latest in our coverage of the death of Anthony Johnson Jr. and other issues in Tarrant County jail.

As Tarrant County commissioners issued a proclamation adopting May as Mental Health Awareness Month, the family of Anthony Ray Johnson Jr. called for accountability and change in the sheriff’s department.

Reading the proclamation’s preamble, Precinct 2 Commissioner Alisa Simmons said that “millions of adults and children are disabled by mental illness every year, and only one out of two people with a serious form of mental illness seek treatment for his or her mental illness,” and that “stigma and fear of discrimination keep many who would benefit from mental health services from seeking help.”

Johnson, 31, who suffered from schizophrenia, died in the Tarrant County jail after being pepper sprayed during a contraband check on April 21. Johnson sought mental health care at Wellbridge Hospital in southwest Fort Worth on April 19, but was denied by hospital staff, according to his mother Jacqualyne Johnson.

She called the proclamation “disheartening” and accused the county of failing her son, who served in the Marines until his illness prevented him from continuing his service.

“I call BS,” said Chanell Johnson, Anthony Ray’s sister, in an interview with the Star-Telegram before Tuesday’s session. “You had someone that was schizophrenic. So if we’re here to talk about mental health, what are you doing in your workforce to ensure that your employees are aware of mental health?”

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Johnson’s mother and sisters called out the chain of law enforcement — from Saginaw police, who arrested him, to the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office — for failing to provide adequate care for Anthony Ray, despite officers’ awareness that he was suffering from a schizophrenic episode.

“He told you he was schizophrenic,” Jacqualyne Johnson said. “Did you relay that information to Tarrant County when you moved him from Saginaw to the jail? That’s a big question mark.”

The Saginaw Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Everyone who interacted with her son is responsible for his death, Jacqualyne Johnson said.

“You have a history of his mental illness, all those broken pieces in this process,” she said. “In my opinion, they should all be held accountable. It’s all under Tarrant County.”

The Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office has denied the family’s and the Star-Telegram’s attempts to view the security camera footage of the incident that led to Johnson’s death, saying that it is evidence in a criminal investigation.

The commissioners tabled a motion introduced by County Judge Tim O’Hare to approve a contract for a mental health alert system with court case management system TechShare.Court, citing budgeting concerns and the need for assurances that the technology works.

The commissioners will “explore the possibility of a bond, an insurance product, something that can protect us against cost overruns” before the next session, O’Hare said.

Tarrant County Chief Information Officer André Mendes called the TechShare alert system a “viable product to offer the type of functionality that Tarrant County needs and deserves.”

Simmons acknowledged the validity of seeking guarantees that the technology works, but voted against tabling the vote for its approval, citing the immediacy of the need for the alert system.

“We desperately need a mental health alert system for magistrates,” she said.

Tarrant County has had a considerable amount of trouble with the TechShare system. It has cost county taxpayers over $26 million, but has not functioned as intended.

After the vote to table, four residents spoke in favor of approving the mental health alert system, despite the issues with TechShare.

Tarrant County’s failure to meet Texas criminal code requirements to use an alert system to identify people suffering mental health crises, Reed Bilz said, has resulted in “incarceration of individuals in need of mental health services being denied treatment and, in some cases, dying in our jail.”

Billy Wilson said he had to change the comment he had written for the commissioners.

“It was my hope that I would come here today to commend you all on moving forward on the integration of our mental health with our magistration, because we believe that is a critical part to ending the jail deaths,” Wilson said. “Four of the last six people who have died in this jail since September have had mental disabilities. It’s a problem.”

Precinct 1 Commissioner Roy Brooks was set to give the Mental Awareness Month proclamation, according to the session agenda, but he did not attend Tuesday’s session.

Staff writers James Hartley and Noah Alcala Bach contributed to this report.