Andre Wilson Dies in Tarrant County Jail in Fort Worth, Texas

The Tarrant County Sheriff’s Department filed a custodial death report regarding the death of one of its inmates in year 2020.  There have been a rash of deaths in Fort Worth, at the Tarrant County jail.  This report was regarding the death of Andre Wilson.  Mr. Wilson was only 34 years old when he died.  We provide information from that report and do not allege that anyone did anything wrong related to Mr. Wilson’s death.  In fact, the report provides very little information at all about what lead to Mr. Wilson’s death.

The report indicates that Mr. Wilson was taken into custody on June 18, 2020, and that he died on September 14, 2020.  The Tarrant County Sheriff’s Department chose not to provide any answer at all to the following fields in the custodial death report: death code, manner of death description, custody code, code of charges, intoxicated, and medical treatment description.  Tarrant County did indicate that Mr. Wilson did not make any suicidal statements and/or exhibit any medical and/or mental health problems.

The summary in the report is extremely short and reads:

“The inmate was checked and given a dinner tray. After all inmates were fed, the Officers were picking up their trays and discovered him laying on the floor of his cell.”

Therefore, the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Department chose not to provide the public with any information at all about what might have led to Mr. Wilson’s death, the cause of his death, whether he was being checked periodically, and/or any other occurrences surrounding his death. 

Without regard to what happened to Mr. Wilson, inmates in Texas county jails are entitled to receive appropriate care for medical issues they experience.  They are also entitled to receive appropriate care for significant mental health issues.  If counties fail to provide such care, and a policy, practice, and/or custom of the county leads to an inmate’s death, then certain family members who survive the inmate may be able to bring a federal lawsuit for violation for the United States Constitution. 

Written By: Dean Malone

Dean Malone

Dean Malone is the founder of Law Offices of Dean Malone, P.C., a jail neglect civil rights law firm. Mr. Malone earned his bachelor's degree at the University of Texas at Dallas, graduating summa cum laude with a 4.0 GPA, and from Baylor University School of Law with a general civil litigation concentration. Mr. Malone served in several staff positions for the Baylor Law Review, including executive editor. Mr. Malone is an experienced trial lawyer, trying a number of cases to jury verdict and also handling arbitrations through final hearing. He heads the jail neglect section of his law firm, in which lawyers litigate cases involving serious injury and death resulting from jail neglect and abuse. Lawyers frequently refer cases to Mr. Malone due to his focus on this very complicated civil rights practice area.