Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has drawn a firm line around where many jail death investigations start, and where they can now stop. In a Feb. 12 formal opinion sent to Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney Phil Sorrells, Paxton said outside law enforcement agencies are only required to investigate when someone dies on county jail property, not when a person in custody later dies at a hospital. The move lands in the middle of mounting scrutiny over in-custody deaths in Fort Worth and growing demands for clear, consistent rules on who investigates them.
What Paxton ruled
In opinion KP-0517, Paxton interpreted Government Code §511.021(a), a provision of the Sandra Bland Act, and concluded that the phrase “the death of a prisoner in a county jail” triggers the requirement to appoint an independent law enforcement agency only if the death happens inside the jail facility itself. His office also noted that the Texas Commission on Jail Standards still has rulemaking power and could adopt regulations that call for outside investigations when someone in custody dies off-site, such as at a hospital, according to the Office of the Attorney General.
DA and local reaction
Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney Phil Sorrells told local media he agrees with Paxton’s reading of the law and said the county “will continue to comply with the law.” Critics, including attorneys for families of people who died while in custody, warned the opinion could function as a loophole if counties routinely move struggling inmates from jail to hospitals, where a later death would not automatically trigger an outside probe. Those reactions were reported by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Tarrant County's troubled record
The opinion arrives against a backdrop that local advocates describe as a crisis. Watchdogs have counted more than 65 in-custody deaths in Tarrant County since 2017, and local oversight bodies found that the state’s jail commission failed to catch instances where required independent investigations were not done correctly. The record includes high-profile deaths that led to criminal indictments and civil lawsuits, a pattern that has fueled years of pressure from families and lawmakers for stronger and clearer investigative standards. Reporting from the Fort Worth Report and others has detailed that history.
The Kimberly Phillips case
One death that helped push this debate into the spotlight was that of Kimberly Phillips. She died on Feb. 18, 2025, after spending several days at John Peter Smith Hospital while still in Tarrant County custody. The Tarrant County medical examiner later cited complications of dehydration and malnutrition as causes of death, and family members have publicly questioned how the jail handled her medical care before she was hospitalized. Those details were reported by KERA News.
Legal implications
Legally, Paxton’s opinion hinges on grammar. His office read the words “in a county jail” as a location limit that confines the independent-investigation requirement to deaths on jail premises, while leaving the Texas Commission on Jail Standards free to broaden investigative rules through its own regulations. Attorney general opinions are treated as persuasive guidance rather than binding law, so courts are not required to follow them. Judges could ultimately adopt a different interpretation of the statute, and lawmakers or regulators could still change the underlying framework. The opinion text and analysis are available from the Office of the Attorney General, and legal observers point out that only courts can make a final determination on what the statute means, according to the Texas State Law Library.
What comes next
The fight over who investigates jail deaths is unlikely to cool off. State legislators have already filed bills that aim to tighten and clarify how such deaths are investigated, according to the Fort Worth Report. Civil lawsuits and criminal cases are moving ahead in several high-profile incidents; in one example, two jailers were indicted in the asphyxiation death of Anthony Johnson Jr., as reported by Axios Dallas. Advocates say Paxton’s opinion could spur new litigation or fresh legislative fixes, while local officials maintain they will keep following the law as it stands.
