FORT WORTH, Texas — Tarrant County Commissioners on Tuesday voted to approve the largest settlement payout in county history over the 2020 death of a baby born at the Tarrant County Jail.
The commissioners voted unanimously to settle the lawsuit from the family of infant Zenorah Congious and award her family $1.2 million.
The settlement comes amid renewed cries for accountability and transparency regarding deaths in the Tarrant County Jails.
In 2020, Chasity Congious gave birth in a cell alone in the Tarrant County Jail, the umbilical cord wrapped around her baby's neck. It took 40 minutes for jailers to discover Congious gave birth. Her baby, Zenorah, died just ten days later in a hospital.
In 2022, Kimberly Hammond, Congious’ mother and legal guardian filed a lawsuit against the county and others on behalf of Congious and her baby. The lawsuit sought damages for claims including wrongful death and neglect.
"It sickens me every time I have to put my names on one of these checks," Commissioner Alisa Simmons, who called the settlement "record-setting," said before the vote.
The legal settlement is not an admission of wrongdoing for the county.
The settlement Tuesday came on the heels of criticism over the recent death of inmate Anthony Johnson Jr., who died in the jail on April 21. Video taken in the jail later revealed that Johnson died after a jailer Rafael Moreno, put his knee on Johnson’s back until he was unresponsive. Waybourn and his supervisor, Lt. Joe Garcia were later fired.
Johnson's death prompted commissioners to discuss the county's video disclosure policy and the employment of special response teams to help jailers respond to crises Tuesday.
Several public commenters were critical of the county's response to Johnson and Zenorah Congious' death. Several called for Sherriff Bill Waybourn to resign.
Over the past eight months, Tarrant County commissioners have agreed to $2.2 million in settlements related to the Tarrant County Jail, Simmons said.
The county settled a $1 million suit with the family of Javonte Myers, a 28-year-old who died from a seizure inside his cell in June 2020. By the time jailers discovered his body, he’d been dead for hours. Another $400,000 settlement went to family of Dean Stewart, who hung himself from a light fixture in his cell.
The money comes from the county's self insurance fund. The county budgeted for $3 million in expenditures from that fund in fiscal year 2024.
"Tarrant County taxpayers are paying quite a heavy price to subsidize the dehumanizing culture in out jail and leadership failures manifesting in the sheriff's office," Simmons said.
Waybourn, who took office in 2017, has overseen more than 60 deaths in the Tarrant County Jail. He previously told WFAA he was not supportive of the county agreeing to settlements.
"The other thing that I would say to people is that even when we did everything right, the person still died,” Waybourn previosuly told WFAA.
Waybourn attended the meeting and defended the jail's method for responding to potentially dangerous confrontations with inmates. Waybourn also noted that the jail recently passed a review by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards.
Other lawsuits related to the Tarrant County jail are ongoing.
“Zenorah was a healthy baby, beautiful, healthy baby girl,” Hammond previously told WFAA. “There is no way that we would have been sitting here if they would have helped us by helping Chastity to deliver the baby.”