1 of 2 | Mason Andrew Yancy, center, died Friday night in the Tarrant County Jail in Texas, prompting demands for answers. He was the 63 person to die in the jail since 2017. Photo courtesy of Brandi Ussery
Friends and family members are organizing an appearance at the Tarrant County Commissioner’s Court in Fort Worth, Texas, to demand answers after another inmate has died in custody amid a spate of deaths.
Mason Andrew Yancy, 31, died at 10:36 p.m. CST Friday night while detained at the Tarrant County Jail, a Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s database shows. The autopsy report has not yet been completed, and his manner of death is listed as “pending.” Advertisement
Yancy was no longer listed in a database of jail inmates when searched by UPI, so his charges and the reason for his arrest were not immediately known. He had been arrested by police in the city of Grapevine, a suburb of Fort Worth, on Dec. 23, KERA reported.
“Mason lit up every room he was in. Instant friend to everyone he met. He wasn’t supposed to die in a jail cell due to negligence,” Colton Crews, a friend of Yancy, said in a statement provided to UPI. “I want to know how Tarrant County is going to prevent this in the future.”
Friends and family members intend to appear at the Tarrant County Commissioner’s Court in Fort Worth on Jan. 14 to demand answers, according to a Facebook event page set up for the planned action. Advertisement
“We want to show up in numbers and let them know we are serious about why another person is dead in their care,” the organizers said.
U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Texas, has asked the U.S. Department of Justice for the investigation citing reports that at least 63 prisoners have died at the Tarrant County Jail since 2017, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.
Before Yancy, a 51-year-old man in custody was taken to a local hospital where he died on Dec. 2, after reporting that he didn’t feel well.
“From physical altercations to drug overdoses and even an unattended birth, the loss of any life within correctional facilities is intolerable and warrants immediate investigation and action,” Veasey said in a letter to the Justice Department.
Sheriff’s data shows that, among those who have died, at least six were determined to be suicides while one was determined to be a homicide, which Veasey said amounts to a pattern of negligence and mismanagement at the jail.
