Tarrant County offers $750,000 payout for death of prisoner with mental illness
Tarrant County has offered $750,000 to the family of a woman who died of suspected dehydration in county jail custody in 2021, according to court documents.
Georgia Kay Baldwin died of severe hypernatremia, an imbalance of sodium that usually results from dehydration — even though she had a water fountain in her cell. She displayed signs of severe mental illness throughout her months in custody, KERA previously reported .
Baldwin's sons sued the county last year, represented by attorney Dean Malone.
"Even though the judgment amount is inadequate when measured against the suffering and loss of life, if nothing else, perhaps resolution of this case will lead to changes not only in the Tarrant County jail, but also other jails across Texas," Malone said in a press release .
Baldwin was arrested for allegedly leaving threatening voicemails for an Arlington police officer. The voicemails urged police to make an arrest in the unsolved murder of Amber Hagerman, according to her arrest warrant affidavit.
The voicemails alone made it clear Baldwin didn't need a jail stay — she needed treatment, Malone told KERA last year.
"What are they going to do, put her on trial for something that she had no clue of right from wrong when she did it?" he said.
Jail records show Baldwin was showing signs of delusions throughout her months in jail. She talked about being a hostage and getting extradited to foreign countries, according to notes from a mental health provider.
At one point, the court declared Baldwin incompetent to stand trial, meaning she was too mentally ill to participate in her own defense.
A judge ordered her to a state psychiatric hospital, but she died before being transferred there. The waitlist for a bed at a state hospital is months or years long .
The $750,000 payment is not an admission of liability, or an admission that Baldwin's sons' complaint is true, according to court documents.
Deaths and allegations of mistreatment in the Tarrant County Jail have cost the county millions of dollars in lawsuit settlements since 2022.
Several other lawsuits are pending, including one from the family of Anthony Johnson Jr. Johnson died in April after an altercation with jailers. He was pepper sprayed, and one detention officer knelt on his back while Johnson said he couldn't breathe.
Johnson's death has been ruled a homicide, and two jailers have been indicted for murder.
More than 60 people have died in Tarrant County custody since 2017, when Sheriff Bill Waybourn took office. He is running for reelection this November.
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