One inmate is dead after a fight inside a cell at a Jacksonville jail, deputies say
UPDATE: The inmate killed by Paul Dixon was drowned in a jail cell toilet. Read more here.
Deputies have arrested a man accused of killing his cellmate Tuesday morning inside a Jacksonville Pre-Trial Detention Facility cell.
Paul Dixon, 43, was arrested Tuesday night and charged with murder, according to a Facebook post from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.
Investigators believe Dixon killed the inmate after a verbal argument turned physical. They are still investigating the cause of the argument.
The cause of death is still unknown but there “doesn’t appear to be” a weapon involved, Sheriff Mike Williams said at Tuesday’s media briefing. A public information officer from JSO described the deceased inmate who they have yet to identify as “incapacitated.”
The timeline of events is still murky. Although a press release says detectives were notified of a death at the detention facility around 11 a.m., it offered no additional details as to how and when correctional officers were made aware of the altercation.
According to an earlier Facebook post, the incident occurred in a cell on the east wing of the fifth floor, which houses inmates that have already been sentenced. There were three inmates in the cell at the time of the altercation. The inmate not involved in the fight is considered a witness, Williams said.
While the wing does have cameras, the incident can not be fully seen on them, according to Williams.
Records show Dixon was convicted of first-degree murder in 1994. He now faces an additional second-degree murder charge and will appear in court on Wednesday.
This story was originally published July 30, 2019 at 7:18 PM.
