Kenneth Ray Perry, age 65, was booked into Tarrant County Jail at 8:28 PM on September 27, 2022. He was found nonresponsive in his cell on his second morning there and about a half hour later, at 6:25 AM on September 29, he was pronounced deceased by a medic. His cause of death is unknown and pending the results of an autopsy. The address of Tarrant County Jail is 100 N. Lamar St. in Fort Worth, TX 76196.

There have been many deaths in Tarrant County Jail in the last three years.  With a high number of inmates dying in the Fort Worth TX jail, it seems that annual inspections would turn up evidence of some type of pattern in jail operations connected to custodial deaths. The Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) has the duty of both establishing minimum jail standards and enforcing those operational requirements. The inspectors have only cited Tarrant County Jail for one area of alleged non-compliance in recent years. In March 2021, the jail was cited for the following standard.

Tarrant County Jail is Allegedly Non-Compliant with §271.1(12)-Objective Classification Plan

The minimum jail standard under rule §271.1(12) is as follows:

Single cells may be used for administrative or disciplinary separation. Inmates in administrative separation shall be provided access to a day room for at least one hour each day.

• TCJS inspectors found that 140 inmates in Tarrant County Jail were not given 1 hour of dayroom time as required by minimum jail standards. It was determined that this occurred on 93 separate days during the period from September 13, 2020, through February 20, 2021.

In this continuing series, learn about some of the recent custodial deaths that have occurred in Tarrant County Jail.

This website was established for the purpose of helping inmates incarcerated in Texas municipal and county jails. Implying that misdeeds have occurred on the part of institutions or individuals is never intended on this site.

–Guest Contributor