Another man has died while in Tarrant County Jail custody, marking one of several jail deaths this year.
Jose Orozco, 37, was pronounced dead at John Peter Smith Hospital Tuesday at 12:11 p.m., according to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office website.
Court records show Orozco was arrested and booked into Tarrant County Jail early Monday morning on a burglary of a building charge.
KERA News reached out to the Tarrant County Sheriff's Office and will update this story with any response.
Tarrant County Commissioner Alisa Simmons said in a statement she was deeply concerned over Orozco's death — and that it cannot be treated as "merely another notification or statistic."
"We must never allow these deaths to become routine, not in our language, not in our response, and not in our expectations," Simmons said. "Every person in county custody is a human being whose life has value, and every death demands serious scrutiny, transparency and accountability."
Simmons said the Haltom City Police Department will be conducting its own investigation.
There's been at least five other in-custody deaths this year.
A sixth man died in June after he was transported to JPS Hospital, but his death is not considered an in-custody death after he was released from custody less than 30 minutes before he was pronounced dead, according to court records and medical examiner records.
There's been more than 80 jail deaths since 2017 when Sheriff Bill Waybourn took office.
The county jail and sheriff's office have faced increased scrutiny over jail deaths this year, demanding more accountability and details surrounding other deaths this year.
Tuesday's death ends the six-year downward trend of jail deaths at the county jail, which Waybourn emphasized earlier this year.
Every jail death is required to be investigated and reviewed by an outside law enforcement agency, the Tarrant County Sheriff's Office, the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office, JPS staff, the Texas Attorney General's Office, and the Texas Commission on Jail Standards.
Penelope Rivera is KERA's Tarrant County Accountability Reporter. Email Penelope at privera@kera.org at erivas@kera.org.
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