Rick Thorburn, who was convicted of killing Queensland schoolgirl Tiahleigh Palmer, has been found unresponsive in his Brisbane jail cell.

Thorburn was jailed for life in 2018 after pleading guilty to killing 12-year-old Tiahleigh Palmer and dumping her body on the banks of a Gold Coast river in 2015.

In a statement a Queensland Corrective Services spokesman said the 62-year-old appeared "well" earlier in the morning, but was found unresponsive around 8:30am and taken to hospital.

It said officers provided first aid and worked with Queensland Health staff to stabilise him until paramedics arrived at the Wacol prison.

He was in a single cell at the time.

Thorburn's wife and two sons were also jailed for lying to police and trying to cover up the schoolgirl's murder.

Tiahleigh was the Thorburn's foster daughter at the time, and the murder was carried out after Thorburn learned his son Trent, then 18, may have impregnated her.

Trent Thorburn was also jailed after pleading guilty to incest.

Experts were unable to establish the cause of the Tiahleigh's death, as her body was badly decomposed when it was discovered six days after she was reported missing.

An inquest in 2021 heard he most likely strangled her to death.

It's the second time Thorburn has been found unresponsive in his jail cell, after another incident in 2020.