FORT WORTH, Texas — The family of an intellectually disabled woman will receive $775,000 to settle a lawsuit arguing that the Tarrant County Jail violated her Fourteenth Amendment rights.
Kelly Masten, who has Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome which causes daily seizures and the mental capacity of a 5-year-old, spent weeks in intensive care after spending ten days in a Tarrant County Jail cell, her family previously told WFAA. She was arrested in April 2022 after her grandmother called 911 after Masten bit her.
Responding officers told her grandmother she would be taken to jail and then to the mental health unit at John Peter Smith Hospital. Instead, she was taken to jail where she suffered from multiple seizures over several days, WFAA previously reported.
Masten's family filed suit against Tarrant County in April, arguing that the jail violated her rights to receive reasonable medical or mental healthcare, to be protected, and to not be punished as a pretrial detainee, according to the lawsuit. Tarrant County Commissioners voted to approve the settlement with Masten's family Tuesday, avoiding a trial.
"Kelly was forever changed by her ordeal in the Tarrant County jail, and she suffered physical injuries that no one should have to suffer as a result of not receiving appropriate seizure medication," Dean Malone, who represents Masten's family said in a statement. "There is no amount of money that would compensate Kelly for what occurred, but her family is glad that we were able to bring this matter to a conclusion. Hopefully, Tarrant County and other Texas counties will change their policies as a result of the lawsuit and settlement.”
The county will pay for the settlement through its self-insurance fund, according to a commissioners court communication. This year, the county has spent more than $2 million to settle lawsuits related to the jail, including a record-breaking $1.2 million paid to the family of infant Zenorah Congious who died shortly after her mother gave birth to her in the jail.
Over 60 people have died in the Tarrant County Jail since 2017 when Sheriff Bill Waybourn was elected.