NEWS ALERT: Harris County Jail is a humanitarian crisis

Last week, some very important pieces were published highlighting the injustices happening every day inside Harris County Jail. Last Tuesday, the New York Times did an in-depth expose entitled, “Jail Is a Death Sentence for a Growing Number of Americans: In Houston’s jail, where the population is at its highest in a decade, 24 people have died this year. More than half had a history of mental problems.” Then, the Harris County Jail reported three more deaths. From a quote in the Houston Chronicle: “The deaths…reflect that some inmates in the jail are being held ‘for somewhat minor violations’ and questioned whether the sheriff's office can assure the safety of those in their confines. ‘You have a duty, you have to protect them,’ [Jed] Silverman, [of HCCLA], said. … Elizabeth Rossi, of the Civil Rights Corps, said the Harris County District Attorney's Office could do more ‘by ending needless prosecutions’ and dismissing older cases. 

And now, on top of this, Houston is under a boil water notice for over 48 hours. No news coverage has reported whether inmates inside Harris County Jail are receiving safe, bottled water - threatening the lives of the people inside even further. The Sheriff has reported to us that bottled water is being delivered, but provided no details and we’ve not yet confirmed it from people inside the facilities.

If Harris County cannot properly oversee inmates as ordered under their care, there is only one solution - FREE the vulnerable human beings inside Harris County Jail. As reported last week:

“Harris County, on the other hand, has roughly 9,773 people in its jail, 227 slots shy of the 10,000 maximum occupancies. According to the county jail dashboard, over 8,000 of these individuals are pre-trial detainees, meaning they haven’t been convicted of a crime but can’t afford to post bail. Over 600 incarcerated people have also been transported to Louisiana and West Texas facilities because of overpopulation. The vast majority—or 95 percent—of Harris County Jail detainees self-reported being without permanent housing, and 80 percent also said they struggled with mental health. Fifty-two percent of defendants are Black, and 24 percent are Hispanic.”

As we face these grave injustices and the humanitarian crisis continues on a daily basis inside Harris County Jail, we renew our call to end mass incarceration and the criminalization of poverty, homelessness, mental illness, and race, and uphold everyone’s constitutional presumption of innocence. We renew our call for freedom for all people who most need our help!