Gemma Swingle, 36, was found unresponsive and died at the Tarrant County jail on Saturday, Aug. 29, 2026.
Trevor Swingle
A recently pregnant woman died at the Tarrant County jail Saturday, the fifth in-custody death at the jail this year, officials said.
Gemma Swingle, 36, had been booked into the jail on Aug. 25, but about four days later was found unresponsive in her cell, according to the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office.
At 1:04 a.m. Saturday, a detention officer performed routine checks of the inmate housing area and noted Swingle “was ok,” according to the sheriff’s office news release. The officer returned 35 minutes later and found her non-responsive, the release said.
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The officer performed life-saving measures on Swingle until medical staff from John Peter Smith Hospital arrived, the sheriff’s office said. Swingle died at 2:20 a.m. at the jail.
More than three weeks before her death, on Aug. 5, Swingle had been arrested on a prostitution charge by Fort Worth police and was in custody while being treated at John Peter Smith Hospital for unspecified medical reasons.
North Richland Hills police, who were separately investigating Swingle over an alleged fraudulent check, were contacted by Fort Worth police on Aug. 12 and told that “Swingle was pregnant and her water broke,” according to an affidavit from a North Richland Hills detective.
The affidavit said the North Richland Hills department was told that prior to her water breaking, Swingle had escaped custody while at the hospital, but was recaptured and returned to the hospital.
Fort Worth police said in the report that after Swingle was recaptured, she was returned to the hospital uninjured and cleared by EMS. She was transported to jail but was later returned for medical reasons, police wrote in the report. Her pregnancy was not mentioned in the Fort Worth police report.
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‘We are very concerned’
Swingle had a baby girl, her younger brother Trevor Swingle told The News. The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services has custody of the baby, the agency confirmed.
The family is waiting on an autopsy to confirm Swingle’s cause of death.
If there’s a possibility Swingle was left in her cell when she could’ve been medically treated, the family wants to know, Trevor Swingle said.
“We are very concerned that she was either not checked up on at all or ignored,” he said.
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Gemma Swingle lived a hard life and never stayed in one place too long, her brother said. Her criminal history includes a long list of cases in the Tarrant County criminal clerk’s office.
Her brother recognizes the mistakes Swingle made while still seeing her as the adventurous and fun sister he lost.
“I was saddened,” he said. “My sister kind of chose a poor life, but I didn’t expect her to die in the care of the hands of the state. I think that’s pretty egregious.”
Previous deaths in Tarrant County jail
This is the fifth in-custody death at the Tarrant County jail this year, according to Robbie Hoy, a spokesman with the sheriff’s office. Her death is being investigated by Haltom City Police.
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John Barr, 36, was the first death reported at the jail this year. He was found unresponsive in his cell on April 19, three days after he was booked into the jail.
Three men died at the jail in June, all within the same week. James Johnson, 40, died on June 16, while Carl McCray, 40, died the next day.
Mack Greer died on June 18. He had a lengthy medical history that predated his time at the Tarrant County Jail, including a lifelong genetic disorder, Hoy said. Greer was granted a compassionate release from jail but is still considered an in-custody death, according to Hoy.
The sheriff’s office said all in-custody deaths are investigated and reviewed by jail staff, the agency’s criminal investigations division, the medical examiner’s office, an outside law enforcement agency, JPS medical staff, the Texas Attorney General’s Office and the Texas Commission on Jail Standards.