Clyde Alexander, 48, is at least the tenth person to die in Tarrant County jail custody this year, according to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office.
Alexander died on Nov. 21 at John Peter Smith Hospital, medical examiner records show. His cause of death is unknown, pending autopsy. He was a musician and songwriter who performed under the name Mr. Clyde Keeth, according to his obituary.
Jail medical staff were examining Alexander when he "experienced a medical emergency," according to a statement from the Tarrant County Sheriff's Office.
"Life-saving measures began and he was transported to John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth, where he was pronounced deceased," the statement read.
Alexander had been in jail for almost a year. He was booked in on Dec. 18, 2022, jail records show.
Activists and some elected officials have called for improvements to the Tarrant County jail system. Since 2018, at least 59 people have died in custody. Deaths peaked in 2020 with 17 deaths, and numbers have declined since then, with 13 deaths in 2021 and 11 in 2022, according to the state's in-custody death records.
Some died under suspicious circumstances.
The county recently agreed to pay $1 million to settle a lawsuit from the family of Javonte Myers, who died of a seizure disorder in his cell in 2020. The two jailers in charge of keeping an eye on Myers face criminal charges for allegedly lying about completing their checks. Myers' body lay in his cell for hours before anyone noticed he had died, the lawsuit alleged.
Tarrant County also never went through with a promised independent autopsy review of Robert Miller, who died in custody in 2019. The county insists he died of a sickle cell crisis, even though reporting from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram found he likely didn't have sickle cell disease.
An expert who spoke to KERA said it's rare even for people with full-blown sickle cell disease to die of a sickle cell crisis.
Here are the other people who have died in Tarrant County jail custody this year, according to state and local records:
- William Burns, 47, complications of metastatic gastric cancer.
- Carlos Rodriguez Munoz, 47, leukemia. (He was in custody in the private prison in Garza County that Tarrant County pays to house some people.)
- Linda Carol York, 64, metastatic carcinoma.
- Derreal Lawayne Jackson, 31, fentanyl and methamphetamine toxicity.
- JoAnn Lemmons, 55, cardiovascular disease.
- Adrian Chavez, 39, suicide.
- Jason Levar Jackson, 36, toxic effects of methamphetamine, combined with cardiovascular disease.
- Heidiann Renee Gitts, 32, mixed drug toxicity.
- George William Zink, 57, pending autopsy.
This story has been updated with a statement from the Tarrant County Sheriff's Office.
Got a tip? Email Miranda Suarez at msuarez@kera.org. You can follow Miranda on Twitter @MirandaRSuarez.
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