Dallas County Jail Deaths, Many Preventable, Dramatically Increase Under Sheriff Marian Brown
by Matt Clarke
The death rate at the Dallas County jail increased around 50% during the first eight years of Sheriff Marian Brown’s tenure, according to investigative reporting by The Dallas Morning News. Many of the deaths could have been easily been prevented with timely and competent medical care.
During Brown’s first eight years in office, from 2018 through 2025, 71 people died while incarcerated in the Dallas County jail. During that time, the jail maintained an average monthly population of 5,805. From 2005 to 2017, the Texas county jail was under the previous sheriff, Lupe Valdez; during her tenure, 48 people died but the average monthly population was even higher at 5,998. This meant the annual death rate was 10.0 per 10,000 while Valdez was in office and jumped to 12.3 under Brown.
COVID-19 cannot account for the increased death rate, as it was only listed as a cause or contributor to four jail deaths. However, a startling conclusion can be reached by examining how quickly detainees die after finally being taken to a hospital: Close to two-thirds die the day they are taken to an outside emergency room, “suggesting they were transported on the verge of death.”
According to epidemiologist Dr. Chris Breyer, the director of the Duke Global Health Institute, who reviewed the findings of the newspaper, “The thing that is very striking is how many people died on the day they’re going to the hospital. That just says to me people are getting to hospital care very late.”
Although Brown declined an interview with the newspaper, she released a statement saying that jail fatalities are “unfortunate but statistically likely” in a large jail. She also resorted to the age-old game of blaming the victim, pointing out that many people arrive at the jail in severe need of medical and mental health care. What she did not address was why those same people were not receiving said care or why the death rate was so much higher under her administration than under Valdez’s.
Examining individual cases, one sees a pattern of delayed and denied care. Laura Westmorland, 51, was such a case. She had bipolar disorder and was booked into the jail after an altercation with her mother. Ten days later, she was found unresponsive on the floor of her unit.
An autopsy revealed Westmoreland had died of sepsis caused by a bowel obstruction.
“This is an excruciating condition that should have been treated with hospital care,” said Dr. Robert B Greifinger, a correctional health expert who monitored facilities for the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division and reviewed The Dallas Morning News’ findings. Greifinger called the surge in jail deaths “such a significant increase that it warrants very close professional attention to the reason.”
Westmoreland’s mother said she had a low pain tolerance and sought medical care for her agonizing condition. Her death leaves her family wondering why she did not receive adequate medical care that would easily have prevented her death.
Three medical experts who reviewed the newspaper’s findings identified at least 11 deaths from preventable causes during Brown’s tenure. This included five caused by blood clots in the lungs which typically have easily identifiable warning signs; two due to low sodium caused by mentally ill men drinking water excessively and a third likely from the same cause; two from sepsis which is generally treatable; and one likely from a diabetic not receiving insulin.
Parkland Health runs the jail’s medical facility. Parkland senior vice president Michael Malaise said that an increase of around three fatalities a year since 2018 was not enough to establish a trend.
Perhaps lawsuits and settlements can prompt change. In 2024, Dallas paid $1 million to the family of a jailed man who died in 2020 of low sodium. Attorney Dean Malone represented them and is representing other families who are suing over jail deaths since 2018.
Source: The Dallas Morning News
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