Attorney on Harris County in-custody deaths: 'It all starts with being understaffed and underfunded'

An attorney with the Harris County Deputies Organization said on Tuesday a lack of resources – not training for jailers – factored into the recent deaths at the Harris County Jail, Houston NBC affiliate KPRC reported. 

“It all starts with being understaffed and underfunded,” Robin Foster said, according to KPRC.

Foster further asserted that Texas’ largest county has neglected to invest in resources necessary to improve conditions at the jail for the benefit of employees and inmates, KPRC reported. 

The attorney’s remarks came after a manslaughter charge was issued in the February 2021 death of 23-year-old Jaquaree Simmons, who was booked into the jail for allegedly possessing a weapon. 

Detention officer Eric Morales is accused of delivering blows to Simmons’ head, from which the inmate perished approximately a week later, during a purported altercation in the aftermath of Winter Storm Uri, Houston National Public Radio (NPR) affiliate Houston Public Media (HPM) reported.

Per KPRC, Harris County had 23 in-custody jail deaths occur on its watch in 2022, with a majority of them being those of black inmates. 

“Whenever we see something like the deaths in the jail skyrocketing, the ones that are going to be punished for it are the ones that have the least to do with it, which are the detention officers,” Foster told the station. 

Shannon Herklotz, the former Harris County Sheriff's Office (HCSO) official tasked with overseeing the jail, resigned earlier this year.

Houston ABC affiliate KTRK reported that the deceased inmates’ surviving families went to Austin on Wednesday to push for answers from the Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS). 

Among those seeking accountability, the station reported, is Deborah Smith, whose 38-year-old daughter died at the jail on May 28, 2022, a month after she was booked on an aggravated assault charge. 

Kristan Smith died at the hospital a few days after she was found unresponsive in her bunk, HCSO told KTRK. 

Her mother said the ordeal was “anyone’s worst nightmare,” vowing to make sure she and others get justice. 

“I will not stop until I get justice and change, not just for Kristan Smith, justice for all the people that have been wronged and changes at Harris County Jail,” Deborah Smith said in the report. 

Per KTRK, at least 30 inmates died in custody since 2023 began.