The Tarrant County Jail on Oct. 11, 2022.
Amanda McCoy
amccoy@star-telegram.com
A 36-year-old woman who died at the Tarrant County jail was previously in police custody at John Peter Smith Hospital and had recently given birth, according to court records.
Gemma Leigh Swingle died at the Tarrant County Jail at 100 N. Lamar St. about 2:20 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 29, according to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Swingle’s cause and manner of death has not been determined. Results of an autopsy are pending.
Taken to JPS while pregnant and in custody
Fort Worth police initially arrested Swingle on Aug. 5 on a prostitution charge, according to a police report. She was taken to JPS Hospital while in custody. The police report does not specify the reason for the medical care, but other records confirm she was pregnant.
Swingle escaped while at the hospital but was later taken into custody again, police wrote. According to the report, she had no injuries, was cleared by EMS and was taken to jail before being returned to JPS for medical reasons.
During a fraudulent check investigation by North Richland Hills police around Aug. 12, Fort Worth police informed the North Richland Hills detective that Swingle was pregnant and that her water had broken, according to an arrest warrant affidavit dated Aug. 13.
It is unclear what date she gave birth. Her baby was taken by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.
Timeline of death
Swingle arrived at the Tarrant County jail on the morning of Aug. 25 and was facing charges of prostitution with previous conviction, forgery to obtain property or service, tampering with a government record, and escaping while in Fort Worth police custody, according to court records.
On Aug. 29, a detention officer performed a routine check of Swingle’s cell about 1:04 a.m. and noted she was OK, the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release. When the officer returned for another check at 1:39 a.m., she was found unresponsive, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Lifesaving measures were attempted by the officer until medical staff from JPS arrived, and Swingle was pronounced dead less than an hour later, the release stated.
Denise Swingle, Gemma Swingle’s mother, was concerned that the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office did not contact her family about her daughter’s incarceration and death, she told Star-Telegram media partner WFAA-TV.
According to the mother, the Sheriff’s Office said Gemma Swingle was put in a jail cell by herself after she suffered from opioid withdrawals. “If she was experiencing sickness on that level, our family should have been notified and they should have never left her alone in a cell only to find her non-responsive,” Denise Swingle told WFAA.
According to the Sheriff’s Office, Swingle’s death was its fifth in-custody death this year.
Deaths in the jail are investigated by Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office jail staff, the TCSO Criminal Investigations Division, the Tarrant County 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, according to the news release.
Haltom City police are investigating Swingle’s death, according to the medical examiner’s office.
Related Stories from Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Shambhavi covers crime, law enforcement and other breaking news in Fort Worth and Tarrant County. She graduated from the University of North Texas and previously covered a variety of general assignment topics in West Texas. She grew up in Nepal.