Tarrant County settles lawsuit with woman whose child died after she gave birth in jail
Tarrant County commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to approve a $1.2 million settlement in a wrongful death lawsuit filed on behalf of a woman whose 10-day-old baby died after she gave birth in the jail.
The woman, Chasity Congious, was nonverbal at the time of the birth in May of 2020, according to the lawsuit.
She had been arrested on a probation violation in January 2020 after her family called Fort Worth police because she was mentally distressed. They wanted to have her involuntarily committed at John Peter Smith Hospital, according Jarrett Adams, a New York-based civil rights attorney who filed the lawsuit.
The woman was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia and had developmental disabilities that sometimes affected her ability to communicate, according to the lawsuit.
Prosecutors filed a motion to drop the charges against the woman a month after she gave birth, and she was taken to JPS for inpatient care.
Following the baby’s death, the sheriff’s office said Congious was seen several times by mental health professionals and that state-required checks had been conducted every 30 minutes.
Before the vote to approve the settlement, Commissioner Alisa Simmons said “given the circumstances of this case,” $1.2 million was too low because it can never address the trauma Congious will have to live with the rest of her life.
She also said it is sickening to her to have her name on the check. She said she anticipated more lawsuits related to jail deaths, referring to the case of Anthony Johnson Jr., who died in custody April 21 after he was arrested during schizophrenic episode.
The lawsuit was filed in February 2022 in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Texas in Fort Worth.
Adams said the family is thankful the settlement was approved. Lawsuits remain against the city of Fort Worth, the officer who arrested Congious and Sheriff Bill Waybourn, Adams said.
Adams said he and the family pray that this resolution institutes change at the Tarrant County jail and other entities responsible for the mentally ill so this never happens again.
Josh Lucas of the Justice Network of Tarrant County, a group of church-goers who speak at nearly every Commissioners Court meeting in support of jail reform, said the county needs to make changes at the jail to avoid these issues.
“History is watching you all, God is watching you all,” Lucas said.
