{"id":40952,"date":"2020-07-17T11:50:49","date_gmt":"2020-07-17T16:50:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/?p=40952"},"modified":"2020-07-17T11:50:49","modified_gmt":"2020-07-17T16:50:49","slug":"deaf-inmate-granted-parole-from-texas-prison-in-june-but-died-before-he-was-released","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2020\/07\/17\/deaf-inmate-granted-parole-from-texas-prison-in-june-but-died-before-he-was-released\/","title":{"rendered":"Deaf inmate granted parole from Texas prison in June but died before he was released"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Deaf inmate granted parole from Texas prison in June but died before he was released<\/strong>
\nIt\u2019s unclear if Theodore \u201cCigo\u201d Crews\u2019s death was related to COVID-19.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Author: Teresa Woodard
\nPublished: July 16, 2020<\/p>\n

DALLAS \u2014 Everybody called Theodore Crews by his nickname, \u201cCigo.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kambri Crews called him dad.<\/p>\n

She\u2019d never call him perfect.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dad deserved his jail time. He was a violent offender. But, he\u2019d done his time,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Crews was in prison for an aggravated assault in Bedford.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d served about 18 years of his 20-year sentence when the coronavirus pandemic first appeared in the Texas prison system.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe promised me that he wouldn\u2019t even go to shower, that he would just take a what he called a bird bath in his cell to avoid going into the communal showers,\u201d Kambri said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was like, great. Smell, do whatever you need to do. Just stay away from everybody. You\u2019re almost home and when you get home, you\u2019ll take the longest shower of your life. Don\u2019t put yourself at risk. But it didn\u2019t matter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kambri was excited for her father’s imminent release on parole when she learned he was terminally ill.<\/p>\n

Kambri Crews and her father during a recent prison visit.<\/p>\n

A spokesman for the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles says a panel voted to grant Crews parole on June 11.<\/p>\n

The original parole date was set for November, but members of the board reconsidered the case on July 6 and ruled Crews was eligible for immediate release, according to the spokesman.<\/p>\n

But immediate release doesn\u2019t mean hours, or even days.<\/p>\n

In early July, Crews was diagnosed with lung cancer and moved to a prison hospital and eventually into hospice.<\/p>\n

He died July 10, before he could be released.<\/p>\n

The parole board spokesman said the state has not changed the manner in which parole decisions are rendered during the coronavirus pandemic, which Kambri questions.<\/p>\n

“He\u2019s at the end of his sentence. He\u2019s 73. He has no teeth. He\u2019s deaf and he weighs 150 pounds,\u201d Kambri said. \u201cSend him home!\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, as of mid-July, more than 12,000 inmates have tested positive for COVID-19 and 94 have died.<\/p>\n

At least 10 TDCJ employees have died from the virus. About 2,300 employees have tested positive.<\/p>\n

Kambri does not believe her father died of COVID, but she has requested his medical records from TDCJ.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur condolences and thoughts and prayers go out to the family of anyone who dies in custody,\u201d said TDCJ spokesman Jeremy Desel. \u201cAll in-custody deaths are investigated and autopsies are ordered.\u201d<\/p>\n

The spokesman for the Board of Pardons and Paroles refused to specifically address Crews\u2019s case but said it would not be out of the ordinary for a medical issue to be the reason an inmate is granted immediate release.<\/p>\n

Cigo Crews was deaf, but he and his daughter were both fluent in sign language.<\/p>\n

Phone conversations were not possible, but Kambri said she worked hard to get two Face Time video chats in his final days, during which she said he had to explain to her that he was dying.<\/p>\n

According to the TDCJ, Face Time calls with terminally ill inmates are relatively new. Chaplains facilitate the calls.<\/p>\n

\u201cA guard was holding the phone, they wouldn\u2019t let him touch it,\u201d Kambri said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey kept it to a strict five minutes and kept interrupting us and looking at the clock. It\u2019s like this desperate attempt to cling to every last ounce of punitive justice.\u201d<\/p>\n

“Where\u2019s the humanity for a man who ostensibly was free?” she asked. “He\u2019d been given parole.”<\/p>\n

Kambri said the final year of her father\u2019s incarceration had been the best year of their relationship.<\/p>\n

\u201cReally, that\u2019s what makes this so unfortunate is that he was ready to come home. We were ready to have him home with us,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Kambri lives in New York City and had plans for her father to live near her and work as a maintenance man in the theater she owns.<\/p>\n

When the pandemic began raging in New York, she said she knew what might be heading her father’s way, so she made a one-day round-trip to Texas to squeeze in what ended up being her final face-to-face visit with her father.<\/p>\n

“I’m so glad I did,” she said.<\/p>\n

SOURCE: https:\/\/www.wfaa.com\/article\/news\/local\/deaf-inmate-granted-parole-from-texas-prison-in-june-but-died-before-he-was-released\/287-26bf296d-46c9-4622-94ea-8c41d5bd601b<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Deaf inmate granted parole from Texas prison in June but died before he was released It\u2019s unclear if Theodore \u201cCigo\u201d Crews\u2019s death was related to COVID-19. Author: Teresa Woodard Published: July 16, 2020 DALLAS \u2014 Everybody called Theodore Crews by…<\/p>\n

Read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[4621,269,26847,24,4544,26900,12127,10931,1576,191,26901,26899,23160,26898,14009],"class_list":["post-40952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-deaf-news","tag-article","tag-coda","tag-covid","tag-deaf","tag-jail","tag-jeremy-desel","tag-kambri-crews","tag-new-york-city","tag-prison","tag-sign-language","tag-teresa-woodard","tag-texas-board-of-pardons-and-paroles","tag-texas-department-of-criminal-justice","tag-theodore-crews","tag-wfaa"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p752R-aEw","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":17229,"url":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2012\/01\/16\/burn-down-the-ground-book-kambri-crews-coda-author\/","url_meta":{"origin":40952,"position":0},"title":"Book: Burn Down the Ground by Kambri Crews (CODA author)","author":"Grant Laird Jr","date":"January 16, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Burn Down the Ground book Kambri Crews (CODA author) BURN DOWN THE GROUND: A MEMOIR by Kambri Crews -- An unflinching, emotional memoir by the hearing daughter of two deaf parents, about the rampant dysfunction of her rural Texas childhood and the searing violence that left her father serving a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/category\/deaf-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Burn-Down-the-Ground.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":17987,"url":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2012\/03\/12\/author-texas-native-kambri-crews-at-sxsw\/","url_meta":{"origin":40952,"position":1},"title":"Author & Texas Native Kambri Crews at SXSW","author":"Grant Laird Jr","date":"March 12, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Hello, Kambri Crews, Texas native and CODA author of the book Burn Down the Ground: A Memoir (Random House), here. I'll be in Austin for SXSW to perform on a storytelling show and for a very brief book signing at the SXSW Book Store. 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Crews\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/category\/deaf-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Kambri Crews","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/kambri_crews.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":20530,"url":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2012\/10\/31\/author-kambri-crews-at-book-woman-bookstore-11112-austin\/","url_meta":{"origin":40952,"position":3},"title":"Author Kambri Crews at Book Woman Bookstore 11\/1\/12 – Austin","author":"Grant Laird Jr","date":"October 31, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"AUTHOR KAMBRI CREWS AT BOOK WOMAN BOOKSTORE Author to Give Presentation, Sign Books & Answer Questions Austin, TX \u2014Kambri Crews, author of the highly acclaimed new memoir Burn Down the Ground (Random House) will appear at the Book Woman Bookstore on Thursday, November 1st at 7PM. 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