Tarrant jail inmate dies at JPS

A Tarrant County Jail inmate charged with assaulting a doctor and resisting arrest died Thursday afternoon at John Peter Smith Hospital, authorities reported Friday.

Joseph Wilson, 41, of Fort Worth, was found in his single-occupant cell and taken to JPS. The Tarrant County medical examiner’s office had not reported on the cause or manner of his death by Friday evening.

Blood was found in the cell, said Terry Grisham, a spokesman for the Tarrant County sheriff’s office.

Wilson was under the care of MHMR staff at the jail. “He was taking prescriptions,” Grisham said.

Previously, Wilson had tried to cut his arm, Grisham said.

Wilson was booked into the jail Feb. 12, accused of assaulting a doctor at JPS and resisting arrest by JPS police. Wilson had been escorted to a court hearing on his case Thursday morning.

Wilson had six convictions from 2000 to 2011, Grisham said.

Wilson was the second inmate to die this week, and the third in two months.

On Sunday, Wendale Webb, 44, of Emory was found dead in the Mansfield Jail. He was arrested earlier in the day by Fort Worth police on suspicion of possession of marijuana.

On March 12, Larry Crowley, 52, of Fort Worth, choked on a towel in the Tarrant County Jail, the medical examiner’s office reported. He had been arrested after his roommate accused him of shooting her with a BB gun.

Those deaths are still being investigated, authorities said.

This story was originally published April 10, 2015 at 11:50 AM with the headline "Tarrant jail inmate dies at JPS."