61-Year-Old Man Dies After Being in Tarrant County Jail

The Tarrant County Sheriff’s Department, which operates the Tarrant County jail, filed a custodial death report regarding the death of Willie Carl Goode.  Mr. Goode was 61 years old at the time of his death.  We provide information in this post obtained from that report, and we make no allegation of any wrongdoing against anyone regarding Mr. Goode’s death. 

The report indicates that Mr. Goode was initially incarcerated in the Tarrant County jail, in Fort Worth, Texas, at 1:30 p.m. on February 14, 2020.  It also indicates that he passed away on March 4, 2020.  The summary portion of the report is very short, and it reads as follows:

“Mr. Willie Goode was booked into our custody on 02/14/2020. On 02/25/2020 @approximately 11:45 am Mr. Goode was evaluated by medical personnel and was sent to John Peter Smith Hospital for evaluation. While at the hospital, Mr. Goode began to decline due to his medical conditions.”

As has been noted in local news, the Tarrant County jail has had issues of late. The Texas Commission on Jail Standards found that it was noncompliant for a period of time.  This was apparently related to suicide of an inmate at the Tarrant County jail.  Hopefully, the Tarrant County jail has brought itself into compliance with the minimum standards set forth by the State of Texas. 

Prisoners in the Tarrant County jail, as well as other jails in Texas, are entitled to receive medical care pursuant the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.  If a prisoner does not receive appropriate medical and/or mental healthcare, and dies as a result, then certain surviving family members might have claims for damages.  These claims are typically brought through 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and they are usually filed by Texas civil rights attorneys in federal court.

Written By: Dean Malone

Dean Malone

Dean Malone is the founder of Law Offices of Dean Malone, P.C., a jail neglect civil rights law firm. Mr. Malone earned his bachelor's degree at the University of Texas at Dallas, graduating summa cum laude with a 4.0 GPA, and from Baylor University School of Law with a general civil litigation concentration. Mr. Malone served in several staff positions for the Baylor Law Review, including executive editor. Mr. Malone is an experienced trial lawyer, trying a number of cases to jury verdict and also handling arbitrations through final hearing. He heads the jail neglect section of his law firm, in which lawyers litigate cases involving serious injury and death resulting from jail neglect and abuse. Lawyers frequently refer cases to Mr. Malone due to his focus on this very complicated civil rights practice area.