2 Tarrant County inmates die in jail custody in 3 days; 1 suspected to have killed himself
Two people died in the custody of the Tarrant County Jail over the past three days, according to the sheriff’s office and medical examiner’s office records.
On Saturday night, Tarrant County Jail detention officers responded to a medical emergency inside one of the jail cells and found a 39-year-old male inmate was unresponsive, the sheriff’s office said in a news release on Tuesday.
CPR was administered until the Fort Worth Fire Department and MedStar arrived, the release said.
The inmate was transported to John Peter Smith Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Evidence from the preliminary investigation indicates the inmate died by suicide, according to the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office. Investigators confirmed that all the checks on the inmate required by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards were completed, the sheriff’s office said.
The inmate’s name and cause of death have not yet been released by the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office.
In the second case, a 55-year-old female inmate, JoAnn Lemmons, died in the custody of the jail early Tuesday morning, according to the medical examiner’s records.
The sheriff’s office said Lemmons “experienced an unknown medical emergency” while routine cell checks were being conducted.
Life-saving measures were “immediately taken” and Lemmons was transported from the jail at 100 N. Lamar St. to JPS, where she was pronounced dead, according to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office.
According to jail records, Lemmons had been in custody since Saturday, when she was booked on a charge of theft of property.
The cause and manner of her death have not been released pending an autopsy.
Since January 2022, 14 other people have died in the Tarrant County Jail, according to custodial death records.
According to the sheriff’s office, all in-custody deaths are reviewed and investigated by an outside law enforcement agency, Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office jail staff, the TCSO Criminal Investigations Division, JPS medical staff, The Texas Commission on Jail Standards, the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office, and the Texas Attorney General’s Office.
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is a hotline for individuals in crisis or for those looking to help someone else. To speak with someone, dial 988.
This story was originally published June 27, 2023 at 4:26 PM.
