Jerry Jernigan

Jerry Jernigan, a 73-year-old man, died of a heart attack while held at the Smith Unit, a Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison in Dawson County, according to the prison's report. The Texas Tribune reported that he died the same day Tommy McCullough died at the unit, when apparent temperatures in the area reached 102 degrees. The Texas Attorney General's custodial death report gives his date of death as June 23, 2023, while a Texas Standard report gives June 30, 2023. The prison attributed the death to natural causes.

Cause of death, as reported: Died of illness

Reported by: Texas Department of Criminal Justice (the agency that held him); Texas Office of the Attorney General custodial death report (outside investigators).

Sources (3)

• Inmates are dying in stifling Texas prisons, but the state seldom acknowledges heat as a cause of death The Texas Tribune, June 28, 2023
• Inmates are dying in stifling Texas prisons, but the state seldom acknowledges heat as a cause of death Texas Standard, July 3, 2023
• Custodial death report 23-747-P Texas Office of the Attorney General, Custodial Deaths Report, August 22, 2023