Former NFL footballer Aaron Hernandez was found with a Bible verse scrawled on his forehead after taking his own life, according to local media reports.

The former New England Patriots tight end hanged himself in his Massachusetts prison cell on Wednesday and was pronounced dead later at hospital.

Does the NFL have a crime problem?

Hernandez who had "God forgives" tattooed on his arm had not been considered at risk of suicide, Mr Fallon Cheap Probowl Jerseys added.

Massachusetts prisons have twice as many inmate suicides as the national average, federal data shows.

The state had an Packers NFL shop annual suicide rate of 32 per 100,000 prisoners from 2001 14, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Only Rhode Island, Utah and Montana had higher rates.

Jose Baez, Hernandez's attorney, said the state medical examiner's office is "illegally" withholding the football star's brain despite family wishes to donate it to research.

Mr Baez told reporters on Thursday the family wants to donate the brain to Boston University's Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) Center, which studies the progressive degenerative disease that is found in people with a history of repetitive brain trauma.

The disease, which can only be diagnosed after death, has been found in the brains of dozens of former American football players.

Mr Baez expressed concern that any delay in releasing the brain to BU would compromise the study of it.

The medical examiner's office did not immediately comment after the news conference.

The rise and fall of Aaron cheap jersey Hernandez

June 2010: The tight end is drafted into the NFL from University of Florida and signs a four year contract with the New England Patriots

January 2012: Hernandez sets a career best with 138 receiving yards in a victory over the Buffalo Bills

July 2012: Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado are shot dead in Boston

August 2012: Hernandez signs a five year, $40m contract with the Patriots

February 2013: Alexander Bradley files a lawsuit claiming Hernandez shot him in the face after a dispute at a Florida strip club

June 2013: Odin Lloyd, a semi professional football player who dated the sister of Hernandez's fiancee, is found dead near Hernandez's home. He is arrested for the murder and dropped by the Patriots

May 2014: Hernandez is charged with first degree murder in connection with Mr de Abreu and Mr Furtado's killings

April 2015: He is convicted of killing Lloyd and sentenced to life in prison

April 2017: The former footballer is acquitted of the 2012 killings of Mr de Abreu and Mr Furtado. But five days later, he kills himself

Hernandez was cleared last week of the murders of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Peyton Manning Jersey,Denver Broncos #18 Manning NFL Jerseys Furtado, who were shot dead outside a Boston nightclub in 2012.

But he was found guilty of illegally possessing a firearm and the judge added five years to his sentence.