I am pretty tired of having people call me and tell me the horrendous experiences they have had with law enforcement here, City of Wacko, the County, the jail, any petty power broker official in the entire sphere and oversight (oxymoron) agencies thereof.
They all suck. There is no justice here unless you’re on of “them”. “Them” is that special group either of the “Lucky Sperm Club”, the ones with a collection of last names for first names and finally being known by a number, or some nickname, my favorite was, “Nub”.
Tell your kids, and from the looks of it, Grandpa and Grandma too now, to shape up because getting in trouble in this place is double hell because there is a “they” and then there’s plain old fkdflat “you”. If you piss them off they will go after you, your offspring and their offspring because cops beget cops, and badasses, well, they beget other badasses and the beat goes on.
I hate hearing the stories because I want desperately to help or give people some hope that they’ll find a Civil Rights Lawyer, hell, I can’t find one, that whatever agency will maybe do something, they don’t, and that there’s a light of justice somewhere in this place.
Justice in McLennan County is an accident. Trust me.
IF Parnell would ever get indicted or just go to the Ellis County Grand Jury that would help everyone’s prospective case, BUT, until Ranger Bradley Freeman brings “the case to us”, Ellis county can’t do anything.
No lie.
Because Parnell is one of “them”, well, buddies, “them” are dying out and some luckily for us have daughters not clone sons, Parnell can do whatever he wants and obviously he is protected by his old cronies and years of “favors”, plus that 125K job Brandi Burson has over at the S.O and her husband being Jake Burson. The Rangers protect Par because Par makes sure Brandi gets rank and raises, which happened within the last six months, by the way. I know you’re surprised.
Darrel Ballew, thanks for fighting them, thanks for not giving up, and thanks for this manifesto, well written and sincere.
I may not be able to help you but Harry will give you a place to tell your story.
H
Texas Jail Commission’s Bureaucracy Shields McLennan County Jail From Accountability
Waco, Texas — December 1, 2025
The Texas Commission on Jail Standards has once again demonstrated how bureaucracy can be used to shield local officials from accountability. A recent complaint I filed against McLennan County Jail shows how the Commission closes cases with paperwork rather than enforcing constitutional protections.
On May 22, 2025, I was arrested in the City of Gholson on a Class A Assault charge. Those charges were later rejected. The arresting officer and the individual who filed the complaint are now defendants in a pending civil lawsuit alleging false arrest and false statements. Because the case is ongoing, its outcome remains to be determined. Following that incident, I filed a complaint with the Texas Commission on Jail Standards.
In response, the Commission issued a letter closing the case, citing “refusal to answer intake questions” as justification for placing me on suicide and medical observation. When in fact the suicide question was answered. The jail omitted that information. The Commission also claimed that phones were available during dayroom hours. In reality, the phones were equipped but turned off, and I was not given a login until after booking. That delay denied me access to counsel and family at a critical stage, a violation of both state standards and constitutional protections.
Federal courts have already addressed this issue repeatedly. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in at least four separate cases — Edmiston v. Borrego (2023), Cope v. Cogdill (2021), Arenas v. Calhoun (2019), and Belknap v. Spinks (2025) — that misuse of suicide or medical classifications without evidence can violate the Constitution. These rulings make clear that officials must have subjective knowledge of actual risk, not rely on bureaucratic shortcuts. By labeling me impaired simply for refusing to answer questions, McLennan County officials acted outside constitutional bounds, and the Commission’s refusal to act ignores binding case law.
The Commission’s decision is not oversight — it is bureaucracy protecting bureaucracy. Closing the case while promising to “monitor compliance” is a hollow gesture that leaves systemic abuses unaddressed.
This is how accountability dies in Texas jails: not with a scandal, but with paperwork.
