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Woman severely bruised, on ventilator for three weeks after family says she wasn't cared for in Tarrant County Jail

Kelly Masten's family said police told them she'd be taken to the hospital. Instead, she spent 10 days in jail repeatedly having seizures.

FORT WORTH, Texas — A 38-year-old woman with severe intellectual disabilities has been hospitalized and on a ventilator in intensive care for nearly three weeks after a 10-day stay at the Tarrant County Jail, her family said.

The Tarrant County Sheriff's Office confirmed that Kelly Masten was booked at the county jail on an assault charge from April 12 to April 21 and that officials are investigating what happened during her time there.

“She is fighting for her life right now in ICU on a ventilator,” Kristina Salinas, Masten’s sister said. “She has never been institutionalized, in jail, never been in any type of facility.”

Masten suffers from Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome, a rare epilepsy disorder causing her to have seizures nearly every day. On April 11, her grandmother called 911 after Masten bit her. 

Officers took Masten into custody on a charge of assault-bodily injury and told her grandmother that Masten would be taken to jail and then to the mental health unit at John Peter Smith Hospital. 

That didn’t happen.

The sheriff's office in a news release said Masten, who was housed in a single cell, had "at least 20 interactions" with the jail's medical staff and that detention officers also checked her regularly.

“She was just left seizing in a cement jail, continuously injuring herself to the point that she is covered head to toe in bruises,” Salinas said.

Citing privacy laws, the sheriff's office did not provide information about her health condition, though officials said "there is no indication of a criminal offense" happening against Masten at the jail. 

The Tarrant County District Attorney’s office dropped the charge against Masten.

The jail has struggled with inmate safety issues recently. 

In three years from 2016 through 2018, the Tarrant County jail recorded three in-custody deaths. From 2019 through 2021, though, the jail recorded 36 deaths, according to data from an open records request. 

Masten was taken to JPS, but Salinas says her name and birthday were both recorded wrong at the jail, meaning medical records weren’t found. 

Police documents showed Masten's name spelled "Maston." The 38-year-old has the mental capacity of a 5-year-old. As a result, she was sent back to the jail, where she remained until her family could post bond for her on April 21. The family said her clothes were soaked in urine.

“She cannot read or write; she cannot spell her name,” Salinas said. “She only knows her first name. Besides that, she cannot relay any type of vital or important information.”

Her father visited her in jail and watched her have a seizure, but the jail said they couldn’t do anything because they can’t force inmates to take medication.

“We don’t know how our baby is going to come out of this now,” Danny Masten said. “Is she going to be able to function at all? Maybe she won’t be. We don’t know that yet.”

Salinas says Kelly has now developed pneumonia at the hospital and her condition is trending worse, not better.

On the day she was supposed to be released, Masten's family said they waited for her outside of the jail. She never came outside. 

When the family asked jail officials, they were told she has already been taken to JPS.

"I don’t know what policy and procedure they go by, but it obviously does not work,” Masten said. “It was the wrong facility. Other actions should’ve been taken but it’s a little too late for that now because my sister is still fighting for her life.”

As of Monday evening, Masten remained hospitalized.

On Tuesday morning, there will be a protest at the jail over Masten's treatment and the jail’s handling of mental health inmates.

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