FAYETTE – This week, Jefferson County Coroner Will Turner Sr. should get the results of an autopsy on a prisoner who apparently hanged himself in the Jefferson County jail.

&uot;Mr. Turner should contact (State Medical Examiner) Steve Hayne in the next day or so,&uot;&160;Deputy Coroner Bob Rollins said Wednesday.

Mississippi Mortuary Services in Pearl confirmed that an autopsy had been performed Tuesday night on Plaze Thomas, 39.

Personnel at Hayne’s office refused to release the autopsy results because the Mississippi Highway Patrol’s probe into the incident is still ongoing. Instead, they referred questions to Turner, who could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Guards at the Jefferson County Correctional Facility found Thomas’ body in his cell Saturday night during a routine check of the jail.

Thomas had apparently hanged himself with a sheet. He had been arrested by Fayette police Saturday afternoon on charges of unpaid fees, an expired tag, driving with a suspended license and driving recklessly.

Sheriff Peter Walker, who has been out of town since Monday visiting his ill mother, was still out of town Wednesday, according to personnel at the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.

Sheriff’s office employees would not comment on the incident and would not transfer calls to Chief Glynn Holliday, Walker’s second-in-command. The department’s receptionist said Walker would release a statement to the press when he returned to work, although she would not say when that would be.

Meanwhile, Thomas’ funeral has been tentatively set for Saturday, but arrangements were incomplete at Rollins Funeral Home in Fayette.