A woman in Tarrant County Jail custody died of dehydration and malnutrition in February, according to recent medical examiner findings.
Kimberly Phillips, 56, died Feb. 18 after spending days at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth.
At the time of her death, the Tarrant County Sheriff's Office said Phillips was transported to JPS on Feb. 15 but did not specify why. Her medical details became part of an open investigation.
Phillips was arrested by the Grand Prairie Police Department on Jan. 24 for outstanding felony warrants and was transported to the Tarrant County Jail the next day. She was placed in medical housing under 24-hour observation and care the entire time she was in custody.
Her family's attorney Chidi Anunobi said in a statement on March 5 that Phillips, a vegetarian, was allegedly not fed for several days.
On Monday, Anunobi said in a new statement that the autopsy report was a "clear indication" of negligence by the Tarrant County Sheriff's Office.
"Tarrant County continues to display a lack of compassion and abdication of responsibility in Kimberly’s death that is sadly consistent with its history in the several cases of inmate death and abuse that has occurred in Tarrant County," Anunobi said in the statement. "This has to stop! The family will not give up and is determined to hold Tarrant County accountable."
The Sheriff's Office said in a statement that it will provide an update once the investigation is finished.
"Until then, we ask for patience, not speculation, as investigators gather all relevant facts," the Sheriff's Office said in the statement.
Phillips' family plans to file two lawsuits related to her death in the coming weeks.
There have been at least three other people who died from dehydration while in Tarrant County Jail custody despite access to water.
Former Chief Deputy Charles Eckert testified in an ongoing lawsuit deposition that all inmates had 24/7 access to water, and it wasn't a concern as long as it was provided to them.
"The Sheriff's Department can't hold people down and force water into their mouth, they have to make the conscious choice to walk over to the sink and drink water,” Eckert told WFAA.
One of the dehydration deaths was 52-year-old Georgia Kay Baldwin who died Sept. 14, 2021.
Baldwin died of severe hypernatremia, an imbalance of sodium that usually results from dehydration, despite having a water fountain in her cell. She displayed signs of severe mental illness throughout her months in custody, KERA previously reported.
Tarrant County offered a $750,000 payout to her family last year following a lawsuit filed by her sons.
Deaths and allegations of mistreatment in the Tarrant County Jail have cost the county millions of dollars in lawsuit settlements since 2022.
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