A 31-year-old man died in Tarrant County jail custody on Wednesday, bringing the number of jail deaths this year to at least six.
Derreal Lawayne Jackson was booked into jail Tuesday and died at the hospital Wednesday, according to jail booking and Medical Examiner records. His cause of death is pending.
Jailers found Jackson unresponsive in his cell after an "unknown medical emergency," a press release from the Tarrant County Sheriff's Office states.
According to the sheriff's office, Jackson told deputies he took fentanyl before he was brought in. They sent him to the hospital for further evaluation, then booked him into the jail, where medical personnel monitored him under "detox protocols."
Jackson told sheriff's deputies he had taken fentanyl before being brought in, the press release states.
Jackson died a day before Tarrant County activists traveled to Austin to demand more state oversight of the Tarrant County jail.
Since 2017, at least 55 people have died in jail custody. The circumstances around some of those deaths have led to lawsuits and media coverage alleging medical neglect and abuse.
In June, Fort Worth’s Broadway Baptist Church, along with activist groups ICE Out of Tarrant and United Fort Worth, sent a petition with more than 700 signatures to the U.S. Department of Justice, asking for a federal investigation of the jail.
Causes of death are still pending for most of the others who died in jail custody this year. Some of their names are spelled differently in different official documents:
- JoAnn or Jo Ann Lemmons, 55, cause of death pending.
- Adrian Chavez or Chevez, 39, suicide.
- Jason Levar Jackson, 36, cause of death pending.
- Heidiann Renee Gitts, 32, cardiac arrest.
- George William Zink, 57, cause of death pending.
Custodial deaths at the Tarrant County jail peaked in 2020 with 17 deaths. The numbers have declined since then, with 13 deaths in 2021 and 11 in 2022, according to the Texas Justice Initiative, which tracks jail deaths reported to the state.
