Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn wants to Brainwash Inmates into Christianity
An Exclusive Article about exploiting Inmates in the name of Jesus and unreported Human Rights Violations in the Tarrant County Corrections system.
Introduction
During my time incarcerated in the Lon Evans facility of Tarrant County Corrections, I witnessed the deployment of Smart Communications Android Tablets. As their website, linked above, notes:
SmartInmate™ by Smart Communications connects family and friends with incarcerated individuals through an easy-to-use online communications system. When using SmartInmate™ you can connect in just minutes and correspond every day in near real time instant communication with your loved ones. Sign up and connect now, it’s quick, easy and free to sign up!
With the software and hardware combination, USPS mail was directed to a PO Box in Seminole, Florida, where it would be opened and scanned into a digital format. The phone and visitation systems in Tarrant County Corrections also switched to the Smart Communications platform. While paper “Request For Services” forms still existed, the change meant inmate requests for Medical, Mental Health, and Miscellaneous Services were switched to the tablets.
The following is an exclusive account of how this technology is used to attempt to divert inmates into Evangelical Christianity, followed by a first-hand account of witnessing unreported Human Rights violations.
How It Works
The Smart Communications Tablets are about the size of an iPad Mini, encased in impact resistant blue plastic and held together by about a dozen pinhead size hex screws. According to Officers, breaking a tablet incurs a $300 replacement fine. Every inmate is “assigned” a tablet and is directed to create an account — I did not create an account because I did not agree to the Terms of Service.
The tablets are tied to the Commissary Funds system. By transferring money from a Commissary account, an inmate can buy time for outgoing phone calls. An inmate can also purchase access to entertainment, such as films or music stations, for a block of time. There are limited “Free” options on the tablet, based on my interviews with other inmates, and from what I overheard through the ventilation system in Lon Evans.
High Ridge Church, Real Vida TV, and Bill Waybourn
As a music lover, a musician, and with a reasonably functioning set of ears, it didn’t take long for me to recognize I kept hearing the same songs through the vents over and over. Most of the time they were mediocre rap tracks, based on the beats and vocal style. I wondered about why so many different inmates were blasting the same music.
The only free music available in Tarrant County Corrections on the Smart Communications tablets is Christian praise and worship, Christian pop, or Christian rap.
Also of note are the free reading materials on the tablet accessible without an account, per my observation in January 2025. There is an English and Spanish version of the Jehovia’s Witness Holy Bible, some basics about Islam (including a time for prayer PDF based on the month), a few Hebrew verses and prayers, along with some Hindu and Buddhist prayers.
The ones that caught my attention were both noted as publications sponsored by High Ridge Church — one, “Wrecked by Grace” by Randi Daniel, and the other, “The Real You Fully Alive” by Pastor Jeff:
I read Randi Daniel’s book a couple times and only skimmed Pastor Jeff’s work because it was painfully stupid. I mean, really, really stupid. Want an example? I memorized this gem which borders on Poe’s Law:
Jesus exercised. He walked everywhere.
Really? Really?! I mean, that’s not even true if you recall basic scripture. One time he rode into town on a Donkey!
Anyway, I put some pieces together and did a basic Google Search for “High Ridge Church” and “Sheriff Bill Waybourn” and came across a collaborative effort to combat human trafficking, written up in the following article:
Bill Waybourn’s Christian Faith is a Cover for Sadism
During incarceration, I spoke with dozens of Tarrant County Corrections Officers and they hold a predominately negative opinion of Sheriff Bill Waybourn. Their main criticisms relate to broken promises about advocating for better compensation with County stakeholders. Their secondary issue is that staffing for the Corrections facilities is woefully inadequate — to be considered Full Time, Officers must work 52 hour weeks and, as I heard over the PA more than 50 times, leadership is constantly begging staff to work additional overtime shifts.
I met a handful of Corrections Officers working 70 plus hour weeks regularly.
Conditions inside Tarrant County Corrections are abysmal with respect to inmate abuse in many forms. First, it’s well documented they have terrible medical care and frequently have to answer in public for inmate fatalities while in custody:
Second, the backup for mentally incompetent inmates awaiting transfer to the “State Hospital” is approximately two years. When an inmate is categorized as “Incompetent to Stand Trial” they can be kept in solitary confinement in Lon Evans until they are found competent or are transferred out — this can be months, possibly years. They are not allowed bail. They simply stay in solitary confinement, albeit with “authorization” by way of MHMR of Tarrant County Case Workers (who visit weekly).
Third and final, what I witnessed in the form of human rights violations against Roberto Arista sticks with me.
Look closely at his charge and we can both agree he’s not a sympathetic case, not somebody who simply stole bread like Jean Valjean. He’s a sex offender. He failed to register. He brought this upon himself…but…
Mentally ill, housed in Lon Evans 75C, Cell 29, the booking photo in the image above looks very little like the man in the cell down the hallway. He is missing his left leg below the knee. Since this photograph, I believe it’s safe to say Mr. Arista has lost somewhere in the neighborhood of 70 to 100 pounds of bodyweight during his time in Tarrant County Corrections.
Only occasionally did Mr. Arista get a shower — the reason he happened to get one was because during cell “Shakedown” his smell was so bad the Officers took him to wash up. I saw it happen about three times. That’s right…Three showers in seven (7) months.
He spits on white nurses with surprising regularity, but never got sent to restriction during the time we were neighbors. What did the Corrections Officers do to punish him? In October 2024, they took away his mattress pad, his mattress pad cover, and his blanket…and those items were not returned for 14 days. If you’re wondering if that’s against policy, well, it is, but he’s a sex offender with dementia, so who cares, right?
I’m not a fan of Sheriff Bill Waybourn because I believe he had me arrested in 2024 on a false Felony charge. In my view, he used his political influence to satisfy a personal grudge due to my attempts to hold his staff accountable for covering up Corrections Officer misconduct against me in 2022, and refusing access to my medical records in 2023 when I faced a health crisis and sought them. Then again, Bill Waybourn seems to be really good at getting his own children preferential treatment, so it shouldn’t be out of the question he’s capable of abusing his power to step on somebody like me who attempted to pursue actual justice.
To me, Bill Waybourn will always be a White Trash Power Bottom Wilford Brimley Sonofabitch…and he deserves to burn in Hell.
