Tarrant County jail reports another 2 inmate deaths within a week, including suicide
Two people in custody of the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office have died in the last week, bringing the total number of inmate deaths to five in December and 17 over the course of 2020.
Jared Chapman, 32, died in a John Peter Smith Hospital room on Dec. 22 after hanging himself, according to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office. The incident, classified as a suicide, occurred in the Tarrant County Corrections Center, records show.
The sheriff’s office didn’t release information last week on his death, according to David McClelland, chief of staff for the agency. But he said in an email on Tuesday that Chapman had attempted suicide the week before his death, and at that time he was taken to JPS. He died on Dec. 22 “due to issues resulting from the suicide attempt,” McClelland said in the email.
He didn’t say if Chapman had been on suicide watch before his death.
The sheriff’s office announced in a news release on Tuesday that another inmate died inside JPS on Monday, apparently from complications stemming from a medical procedure at the hospital. The identity of the inmate has not been released pending notification of the family, the sheriff’s office said.
The Texas Rangers, which investigates in-custody deaths, said in an email on Tuesday, “The investigations are ongoing and no additional information is currently available.”
Of the 17 in-custody deaths in Tarrant County in 2020, officials said four were related to the coronavirus. Five deaths were ruled to be from other natural causes and authorities haven’t announced a cause in six of the cases.
There was one other inmate suicide in late April, when Dean Ray Stewart, 50, was found dead in the jail of a hanging, medical examiner records show. Family was worried about his mental instability before he died.
Earlier in December, two inmates died within a week. Two others died within a week in November.
This story was originally published December 29, 2020 at 11:05 AM.
