Tarrant County Jail

The woman died at John Peter Smith Hospital, according to the Tarrant County Sheriff's Office.

Johnson died after Tarrant County jailers pepper sprayed him, and one knelt on his back for more than a minute. The Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office ruled Johnson's death a homicide by asphyxiation.

It's not the first time the family of Anthony Johnson Jr. has been removed from the court while making calls for accountability and justice for his death.

Commissioner Alisa Simmons said she wanted the court to be briefed on compassionate release because of concerns over an inmate with terminal stomach cancer.

Under state law, every death in county jail custody triggers an independent investigation. That requirement places too big a burden on law enforcement, Tarrant County District Attorney Phil Sorrells wrote in a letter to the state attorney general's office.

Jail deaths were not independently investigated by Fort Worth police, records show. A potential loophole in Texas law made the scenario possible.

A yearslong spike of in-custody deaths in the Tarrant County Jail could come under scrutiny by the Texas Legislature with a bipartisan pair of bills filed by Tarrant County House members Nicole Collier and David Lowe.

Jails have to report in-custody deaths to the state attorney general's office within 30 days.

U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor dismissed claims against Tarrant County and six of the named jailers earlier this month, but the family want the county back on the suit.

At least 70 people have died in Tarrant County Jail custody since Sheriff Bill Waybourn took office in 2017.

A federal judge dismissed the claims against Tarrant County and six of the named jailers, but nine defendants remain.

A 36-year-old man died in the Tarrant County Jail Saturday following complications from an attempted suicide. He was the first person to die in the jail this year.