Family of mentally ill man wants answers about his death in Tarrant County Jail custody
Harold Kent Roberts was the kind of person who always had a smile on his face, according to his family.
He was known for being a thoughtful person to others, was always offering a helping hand and made people happy because of it, his cousins said.
The youngest of three sons, Roberts was the one who was closest to his mother. He dedicated his life to taking care of her and helping her get around, his family said.
His mom was 94 years old when she died, but he was unable to attend her funeral because he was incarcerated at the Tarrant County Jail.
Then, on Feb. 14, 63-year-old Roberts died at the jail after experiencing a “medical emergency” early that morning, the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.
Roberts collapsed in an elevator while on his way to the jail’s medical area for observation, the Sheriff’s Office said. He was taken to John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth, where he was pronounced dead.
The cause and manner of his death have not yet been ruled on by the medical examiner, but his family said they were told by the Sheriff’s Office that he may have died due to a heart attack.
His death has left his loved ones concerned because his family says he never had heart problems and he shouldn’t have been incarcerated considering the state of his mental health.
Roberts’ family searches for answers
The phone call that Roberts’ cousins received notifying them he died was the only update the Sheriff’s Office has provided them with, they said.
Roberts’ cousin Jenell Castleman and her sisters are still trying to determine what actually happened as they’ve received conflicting accounts of Roberts’ death.
According to Roberts’ cousin Katty Walton, the medical examiner’s office told the family that they don’t believe a heart attack caused his death.
“We’re just trying to just wrap our heads around everything. ... We just don’t have any information. We’re just trying to figure out what happened,” Walton said.
The Sheriff’s Office redirected the Star-Telegram’s request for an update in the investigation of Roberts’ death to the Texas Commission on Jail Standards.
What hurts the most, Castleman said, is that his family was unaware that Roberts, who was mentally ill, was transferred back to the jail from a rehabilitation center.
“For him to die in jail is just heartbreaking,” Castleman said. “He didn’t deserve that.”
According to court records, Roberts was arrested in September 2020 on a charge of injury to an elderly person, accused of grabbing and choking a woman in a domestic violence case in Fort Worth.
He was found incompetent to stand trial in the domestic violence case in November 2020 and was ordered to receive mental health treatment as part of a competency restoration program he was required to participate in, according to court records.
Roberts was transferred back to the jail on Feb. 7 after he was found competent to stand trial on Jan. 31.
According to Castleman, Roberts never intended to hurt the woman he was accused of assaulting and she said it was a result of him “not being right mentally.”
“Harold was a loving, caring individual,” Castleman said.
Tarrant County district court documents show that the court determined Roberts’ competency based on a report and evaluation conducted by a psychologist.
His cousins said they don’t believe he was fit to stand trial due to his mental illness. After he spent years in and out of a rehabilitation facility and the jail, Roberts’ family could barely recognize him.
“He was pretty much kind of unrecognizable just within a few years that he went away into the facility,” Walton said. “It doesn’t look like, maybe, the proper care was taken.”
Walton and Castleman thought that the rehabilitation center where Roberts was at would, at least, notify them when he was being transferred back to the jail, but they never got a call.
“He still had family and loved ones, so we all just kind of want to rest at peace, as well as Harold, and just get answers,” Walton said.
