HOUSTON – The Harris County Sheriff’s Office has until the end of the month to show state regulators how they plan to move more inmates to other facilities.
The Texas Commission on Jail Standards hasn’t yet released the audio recording of the public meeting, but the sheriff’s office related some of the details to KPRC 2′s Rilwan Balogun.
Harris County Sheriff’s Office Chief of Staff Jason Spencer said they must continue transferring more incarcerated people out, “until we are able to get staffing levels up.”
As of Thursday, November 2, 1,222 inmates are outsourced to other facilities.
Spencer said the issue centers around staffing shortage. Spencer said there are 204 detention officer openings.
“We’re optimistic that the 12% pay increase that the Commissioners Court approved for detention officers will help with retention and recruiting,” Spencer said.
In the August Texas Commission on Jail Standards meeting, Executive Director Brandon Wood explained the sheriff’s office was addressing previously identified concerns. The issues that led the county to receive a notice of non-compliance were due to housing and holding inmates over the regulated 48 hours through the booking process.
Inspectors also found jailers didn’t observe inmates often enough, and the jail didn’t meet staffing requirements of one jailer for every 48 inmates.
Last month, 50-year-old Dominga Barrera Trevino died at the Harris County Jail after suffering a “medical emergency” inside a medical ward. According to deputies, Harris Health medical staff immediately responded and began lifesaving efforts. Trevino was pronounced dead at the clinic at around 10:32 p.m. Right now, it’s unclear exactly what caused the medical emergency.
“It’s very, very scary,” said Jacilet Griffin. “It’s a rude awakening to people like myself who’ve experienced the loss of my son so I have to relive this when I hear this. I have to relive it again.”
Griffin’s 31-year-old son Evan Lee died while in custody March of 2022.
Griffin has attended multiple commission meetings with hopes of significant change for the Harris County jail.
“Evan was there on an error in the system, and he lost his life. It’s very, very serious,” Griffin said. “I feel that jail is dangerous because it’s just an agency holding an inmate until they get their day in court. But they’re receiving the death penalty.”
She’s calling for the state to step in.
“It needs to be taken over until they can get all their standards and policies in order to be able to handle the human beings that are being held there until their day in court,” Griffin said. “I understand it’s a punishment phase, but it still should not be a death. It should not be a custodial death. No one should be found unresponsive on their watch.”
HARRIS COUNTY SHERIFF’S STATEMENT:
“We currently have 204 openings for detention officers, which makes it difficult for us to meet proper staffing levels in the jail. As a result, we have been asked to outsource more people from the jail until we are able to get staffing levels up. We’re optimistic that the 12% pay increase that the Commissioners Court approved for detention officers will help with retention and recruiting.
Variance beds are beds that the commission previously allowed us to add to our official building capacity. We have about 500 of them. We were told that we could lose 100 of those variance beds if we don’t have a deal in place to outsource more people by the end of the month.
We try to make outsourcing decisions based largely on which people do not have court hearings scheduled for the near future. It is not voluntary.”