Houston Public Media : Officials set to answer for issues within the Harris County Jail during meeting with state officials
November 1, 2023
For more than a year, the Harris County Jail has violated statewide safety standards as the facility continues to struggle under the weight of chronic overcrowding and understaffing.
Topics: 2023news, Jail Conditions, Medical, Overcrowding
Since Sept. 7, 2022, the Harris County Jail has continuously violated statewide safety standards for not providing timely medical care, keeping people in holding cells for longer than the legal limit and insufficient staffing levels within the facility.
Officials with the Texas Commission on Jail Standards have previously warned the county that they could face state intervention if the laundry list of issues within the troubled facility aren’t remedied.
“When people keep pointing to the staffing issue, they forget that what’s actually killing people in there is the culture. They’re pointing to paying more as a way of retaining people, but it’s still those very stuffers who are killing people. It’s the culture that has been perpetrated from the top down that’s killing people.”