FORT WORTH, Texas — A person with mental and developmental disabilities has been within the Tarrant County Jail for greater than a 12 months, and his mom is rising extra apprehensive about his well being and well-being with every passing day.
Since December 2024, Shawn Fraraccio, 26, has been held on a cost of steady violence in opposition to a member of the family. On this case, Fraraccio’s mom, Christy Bridgman of Azle, is the alleged sufferer, however she instructed the Star-Telegram her son has the cognitive capability of a 6- to 8-year-old, and he or she desires him launched from custody.
Bridgman stated Fraraccio as soon as weighed over 200 kilos, however when she final visited him, he was skinny, unshaven and appeared raveled. Bridgman added that Fraraccio confirmed indicators of self-inflicted accidents from banging his head in opposition to his cell wall. Bridgman believes Fraraccio goes to significantly damage himself, and since he’s alone in a single cell, nobody goes to search out him till it’s too late.
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“He appears to be like like he’s dying,” Bridgman stated. “He’s meat and bones.”
In keeping with Bridgman, Fraraccio is unable to look after himself. She stated she beforehand had to assist him bathe, shave and brush his enamel, and he or she’s seen no proof jail workers are offering her son with that degree of help. Moreover, Bridgman suspects workers aren’t giving Fraraccio his seizure treatment as prescribed.
A Tarrant County Sheriff’s Workplace spokesperson couldn’t talk about Fraraccio’s medical care, however she did say Fraraccio was housed close to the nurse’s station within the jail’s infirmary, and that he has his personal bathroom and is given the possibility to bathe each different day, per minimal jail requirements.
The spokesperson stated Fraraccio can also be receiving further consideration that the majority inmates don’t get. Fraraccio has, for instance, a extra comfy mattress, the spokesperson stated. And he’s allowed to vary garments 3 times per week versus as soon as per week, which is customary. As for Fraraccio’s weight-reduction plan, the spokesperson stated he has the chance to request a liquid complement “to make sure correct caloric consumption.”
When requested about Bridgman’s concern that Fraraccio is being left unattended in his cell, the Sheriff’s Workplace spokesperson stated jail workers carry out checks each 20 minutes “in areas the place inmates are identified to be assaultive, probably suicidal, mentally ailing or who’ve demonstrated weird conduct.” The spokesperson stated that exceeds the state minimal requirements, which name for checks each half-hour on at-risk or high-risk inmates.
Why has Fraraccio remained in Tarrant County Jail with out being convicted of against the law?
Fraraccio was arrested twice in December 2024 on suspicion of home violence. Courtroom data confirmed he was accused of hanging his mom each instances along with his hand.
Bridgman stated the primary time Fraraccio was arrested, somebody in her residence complicated overheard the altercation and known as the police. The second time, Bridgman stated she was on the telephone with somebody from My Well being My Sources of Tarrant County throughout an altercation with Fraraccio. The MHMR consultant grew to become alarmed and known as police.
MHMR is a state-contracted nonprofit that gives psychological well being companies and companies to these with mental incapacity. The group companions with the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Workplace to supply sources to jail inmates as effectively.
Concerning the abuse allegations, Bridgman stated Fraraccio generally will get agitated and acts out, however Bridgman doesn’t imagine he is aware of what he’s doing. She described Fraraccio’s behaviors as child-like.
A Tarrant County grand jury indicted Fraraccio in March 2025. His court-appointed lawyer didn’t reply to a request for remark.
In Could 2025, Fraraccio was deemed incompetent to face trial. A county psychological well being Justice of the Peace ordered him to stay in jail with out bond till he could be positioned in a State Supported Dwelling Heart, or SSLC, for folks with mental disabilities. As soon as there, Fraraccio will probably be evaluated to see if he can acquire the competence wanted to proceed along with his felony case.
Susan Garnett, chief govt officer of MHMR, stated placement choices are within the palms of Texas Well being and Human Companies, the state company that oversees the SSLCs. MHMR is nearly powerless to intervene to have somebody moved from a jail to an SSLC.
As soon as a defendant with mental incapacity enters the judicial system, the method has to run its course, stated Garnett. It may well take months and even years for somebody like Fraraccio to be admitted to an SSLC. Within the interim, these people usually stay in jail with no choices until prosecutors transfer to dismiss the fees.
A spokesperson for the District Lawyer’s Workplace stated Fraraccio’s case is actually on maintain till “competency is restored” in an SSLC. However Bridgman stated she’d been instructed it may very well be one other 12 months earlier than her son is admitted into a type of amenities. Even then, Bridgman doubts Fraraccio’s competency can ever be restored.
Garnett stated delays in shifting an inmate to an SSLC are the norm. There are solely 2,700 SSLC beds in Texas, Garnett stated, and solely a portion of these are labeled as “forensic beds” for folks dealing with felony prices.
Because the sufferer on this case, Bridgman stated she filed an affidavit of non-prosecution with the District Lawyer’s Workplace asking the prosecutor to drop the fees in opposition to Fraraccio, however she hasn’t acquired a response.
When requested about that, the spokesperson for the District Lawyer’s Workplace stated they “could have in mind and think about an affidavit of non-prosecution when making case choices.”
The affidavit doesn’t, nonetheless, assure the prosecutor will decline to pursue felony prices. The District Lawyer’s Workplace spokesperson supplied the next assertion to the Star-Telegram concerning the choice to prosecute Fraraccio:
“The protection of our neighborhood is our aim. Medical professionals have instructed us this defendant must be in a state supported residing middle. Our concern is for the protection of his mom, his security and the protection of the neighborhood typically. Mr. Fraraccio wants the right care to perform this aim.”
On March 10, Bridgman and her supporters appealed to the Tarrant County Commissioners Courtroom to expedite Fraraccio’s transfer to an SSLC. Bridgman stated she determined to go public with Fraraccio’s story and produce it to the eye of the commissioners as a result of she feared her son will die in custody.
Since Tarrant County Sheriff Invoice Waybourn took workplace in 2017, greater than 70 inmates have died in Tarrant County Jail from causes starting from malnutrition and dehydration to make use of of pressure by jail workers, as was the case with Anthony Johnson, whose dying was dominated a murder.
The Sheriff’s Workplace has stated there have been fewer in-custody deaths in Tarrant County than in Dallas, Harris and Bexar counties. In keeping with information shared by the Sheriff’s Workplace, from 2017 by 2025, there have been 109 deaths in Bexar County, which encompasses San Antonio and has an identical jail capability as Tarrant County. The Dallas County and Harris County jails are bigger. Dallas County noticed 77 inmate deaths between 2017 and 2025 and there have been 140 in Harris County throughout that point.
Garnett stated there have been in all probability 5 – 6 inmates in Tarrant County like Fraraccio who’re awaiting switch to an SSLC. She couldn’t communicate on to Fraraccio’s case due to privateness restrictions, however Garnett stated it’s discouraging and sometimes heartbreaking when somebody with mental and developmental disabilities languishes in jail due to a scarcity of state sources and an unwillingness on the a part of prosecutors to totally take into account the defendant’s cognitive capability.
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