Unfair Park from p6 cide in a cell. Video shows one of the jailers entering false information on the sheet. That jailer didn’t get fired or prosecuted, was allowed to continue to work and will be able to retire. In Malone’s opinion, responsibility lies with the leaders of the departments, who know this goes on and in some cases have given the order to do it. A jailer who gets caught becomes the scapegoat. “You’re in- structed to do this, now you’re being prose- cuted for it,” Malone said. “I think the prosecution needs to dig a little deeper. It’s really easy to prosecute a jailer or two. They need to look a little further.” But trying to look good for the TCJS ends up encouraging jailers to falsify re- cords, and without any repercussions to worry about, there’s no reason to stop doing it. “The jail administrator is the one that runs the jail,” Malone said. “And they’ve got to make it clear, this is unacceptable, you just can’t do it, and you’re gonna get fired and prosecuted. And I just don’t think that’s going on.” The TCJS does know that falsify- ing records is a problem and it continues to find jails noncompliant, but the commission budget is low, and under Texas law the agency has weak enforcement mechanisms. PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT CRITICAL M alone said TCJS does what it can, but with a budget of only about $2 mil- lion for 254 counties, there’s not much they can do. “I think the public has to care,” he said. “The public has to care for the people that can’t help themselves.” Still, there seems to be a disconnect be- tween most voters and those who are ar- rested, who Malone said are mostly charged with minor offenses such as public intoxication, criminal trespass or drug pos- session. Many of these arrests ensnare peo- ple with mental health issues. “I think the issue is most voters can’t imagine them- selves in the position of an arrestee,” Malone said. “[But] I think that’s changing because … just about everybody knows someone, close friend or family member, or a friend’s family member who has serious mental health issues. It’s just so common. So, my hope is that the courts will begin to look at these issues more and … actually take some action.” Malone said he wants people to know that anyone can end up in jail, not just hard- ened criminals or those with mental health issues. Most of his clients were arrested for low-level offenses, but still end up suffering adverse consequences. He believes that even though practic- ing in this area is incredibly difficult, it is vitally important to have attorneys who work to protect the constitutional rights of everyone, including those who are in- carcerated. “Nobody likes lawyers until they need one, 88 and nobody likes lawsuits,” said Malone. “But it seems, unfortunately, that the only way things are going to change is the threat of liti- gation, so that the jails throughout our state know if they’re going to ignore suicidal peo- ple, if they’re going to let mentally ill people linger in cells and not provide any treatment to them, if they’re going to knowingly let peo- Nathan Hunsinger Jerry and Kathy Cabler lost their son to suicide while he was jailed. ple with serious mental health issues just die themselves — they need to know there’s a threat of litigation.” Gundu said that once people are dressed in a jail jumpsuit, they’re often not seen as persons anymore. But Malone sees them. “He’s one of those rare attorneys that really gets it,” she said. “He gets what the condi- tions are and the disconnect between poli- cies and practices inside jails. … He sees them as people and really fights for their rights.” It’s not just murderers in jails. It could be neighbors or friends or relatives. In any case, even an accused murderer has constitu- tional rights that deserve to be defended. And while things might get worse before they get better, Malone can point to some triumphs. In July, he prevailed in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a case in- volving a jailed woman who died after hav- ing a 230-pound jailer kneel on her back while a 390-pound jailer simultaneously had his forearm on her neck for over two minutes. The case is still in litigation. “These are hard-fought battles,” Malone said, and according to his estimation, he’s still up for the fight. “I guess I’ve always had it in me, that David versus Goliath. I just don’t mind being David, and I don’t care how many Goliaths there are.” ▼ POLITICS FAKE OUT I COMEDY WRITER TOBY MORTON HAS CREATED A PARODY WEBSITE FOR GOV. GREG ABBOTT. BY JACOB VAUGHN f you go to the governorgregabbott.com website, you’ll find what reads like an un- settling admission of guilt in the “about” section. “I am partly responsible for the deaths of students killed in school shootings,” the page reads. “My current goal is to make sure you forget about the clusterfuck called Uvalde.” (In May, the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde killed 19 stu- dents and two teachers.) Despite what the site’s address might suggest, it isn’t affiliated with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott or his campaign. It’s the cre- ation of comedy writer Toby Morton, who’s done work for the likes of South Park and Mad TV. In recent years, Morton has been snatching up domain names associated with several Republican politicians and cam- paigns to create parody websites slamming them all. There’s thelaurenboebert.com, senator- marcorubio.com, and then there’s governor- gregabbott.com, which Morton said gets the most traffic. “Lots of love from Texans on this one,” he told the Observer. The bottom of every page on each site states that it is a parody. When you open up the Abbott parody site, you’ll be greeted by a picture of the gov- ernor and a box of text that says “Failures of Governor Abbott. People die on his watch.” The site digs on the governor for everything from his leadership during Winter Storm Uri to his stances on gun control and repro- ductive rights. Much of what’s written is presented as if it were written by the gover- nor himself. “The U.S. Supreme Court correctly over- turned Roe v. Wade and reinstated the right of states to protect innocent, unborn chil- dren. As for you women? Just calm down,” the site reads. “Stop overreacting. You won’t need abortions since you won’t be raped anymore in Texas because I’m banning rape! Sure, your lives are in danger from a back al- ley abortion, but think about it … it could be worse.” Morton said no one from Abbott’s office or his campaign has reached out about the parody site for the Texas governor. Instead, he gets “plenty of random hate mail,” Mor- ton said. Recently, he posted an email from one angry visitor to the site. “I am a proud Texas woman,” the person wrote. “I see so many that work hard to make sure Texas stays true to God. What you are doing with the domain and website you’ve created is placing evil in the lives of those hard working Texans.” The email went on, “Your website does nothing but place doubt in the minds of vot- ers. You’re making decisions for them.” It ended by telling Morton he’s a disappoint- ment to the state and that he should ask for forgiveness. While no one with Abbott’s office or campaign reached out to Morton, U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert’s office sent a cease and de- sist email for the parody site about her. Morton posted it on the site, which is still online today. “The website … needs to be taken down since the photos on here are copyrighted property of the U.S. Federal government,” the email from Boebert’s press secretary said. “Additionally, the entire website is a defamatory impersonation, and it goes against relevant terms of service and U.S. law. Please remove immediately or face fur- ther action.” Morton subsequently told news outlets, “I think they just wanted to scare me, so they sent this stupid email.” Nothing ever came of the cease and de- sist email. Neither the governor’s office nor his campaign responded to requests for comment about whether they had similar concerns about the Abbott parody site. Morton plans to keep up the parody sites, and with elections just around the corner in November, he said he’s busier than usual. He gets more attention from the Abbott site compared with all the others, and he attri- butes this to the state’s recent moves on gun control and abortion. The websites are Morton’s main line of work, but he’s recently started a political satire podcast called Maximum News. He said he keeps the sites as updated as possible and will be releasing two parody commer- cials for Abbott’s campaign in the coming weeks. MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2014 SEPTEMBER 1–7, 2022 DALLAS OBSERVER DALLAS OBSERVER | CLASSIFIED | MUSIC | DISH | MOVIES | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | FEATURE | SCHUTZE | UNFAIR PARK | CONTENTS | CLASSIFIED | MUSIC | DISH | CULTURE | UNFAIR PARK | CONTENTS dallasobserver.comdallasobserver.com
