Gonzalez on FBI review of Harris County Jail deaths: 'I want our community to fully trust our commitment to transparency and full accountability'

The country’s top law enforcement agency approved Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez’s request on Monday to investigate two in-jail custody deaths at the Harris County Jail, per reports from Houston-based media outlets. 

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) plans to look into the deaths of Jacoby Pillow and Jaquaree Simmons. 

Pillow died last month while Simmons perished in February 2021, Houston National Public Radio (NPR) affiliate Houston Public Media (HPM) reported.

According to Houston NBC affiliate KPRC, Gonzalez, a Democrat, said he spoke with James Smith, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Houston Field Office. 

“I want our community to fully trust our commitment to transparency and full accountability,” the sheriff said, the station reported citing the Harris County Sheriff's Office (HCSO). “I look forward to learning the FBI’s findings because we must all know the full truth if we are to improve our operation and make the jail as safe as possible for everyone entrusted into our care.” 

The slew of deaths at the jail are apparently a factor in the resignation earlier this year of Shannon Herklotz, the former HCSO official tasked with overseeing the facility.

HPM reported that the 31-year-old Pillow died in his cell after he allegedly had to be restrained from attacking a jailer. 

The inmate had posted a $100 personal bond before the confrontation in question, HCSO officials said. 

The 23-year-old Simmons was booked into the jail on an alleged weapon possession charge just before Winter Storm Uri occurred. 

Simmons himself also was involved in a confrontation with a detention officer in which the inmate sustained multiple blows to his head, according to Houston Daily. 

He succumbed to those injuries and the officer, identified as Eric Morales, was issued a manslaughter charge, the publication reported citing HPM.

At least 20 in-jail custody deaths occurred in Harris County in 2022 whereas about four were reported since the beginning of this year. 

Some surviving families of the deceased recently traveled to Austin to seek answers from the Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS). 

Per HPM, jail reform advocates assert that conditions at the Harris County Jail continue to worsen because of overcrowding.