Lucio Vasquez / Houston Public Media
People detained inside the Harris County Jail. Taken on July 25, 2019.
Harris County commissioners have authorized a $38 million contract to continue outsourcing more than 1,000 jail inmates to private detention facilities, some of which are involved in wrongful death lawsuits.
The new contract ensures the county can keep outsourcing inmates out of the Harris County Jail to facilities in Beaumont and Louisiana until 2027 in an effort to ease crowding issues at the downtown Houston facility.
Though Harris County last year ended one of the county’s outsourcing contracts — which brought back about 300 inmates from a facility in Mississippi — the jail hasn’t been able to meet all of the conditions set out by a state remedial order that removed hundreds of beds from the county jail, said Assistant Chief Phillip Bosquez of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.
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“We can expect an outside comprehensive inspection, which usually is about a week long where the jail commission comes in, they go through all our systems, paperwork, the facilities, they look at staffing, just anything and everything,” Bosquez said.
Once two of those inspections are complete, the remedial order will be lifted, freeing about 700 additional beds inside the jail, which is operated by the sheriff’s office.
The Harris County Jail was found to be in compliance with the state’s minimum jail standards during an inspection conducted this month. It was the first time in longer than a year that the jail was found to be in compliance with the state’s standards.
RELATED: Harris County Jail found to be in compliance with state standards for first time in over a year
County commissioners approved the contract renewal on Thursday after mothers of jail inmates who had died after being outsourced implored them to delay the agreement. Two lawsuits have been filed this year stemming from Harris County inmate deaths inside LaSalle Correctional Center facilities in Louisiana.
A federal lawsuit stemming from the death of 29-year-old Erik Carlson alleges correctional staff at one of the LaSalle facilities ignored his pleas for medical attention in the days leading up to his death from an infection caused by strep throat. Another lawsuit filed a few days later asserts Kristopher McGregor suffered from delusions and was unable to advocate for himself before dying inside the same jail from sepsis caused by a strep throat infection.
On Thursday, Carlson’s mother said the contract is an irresponsible way to spend county dollars.
“I beg, beg this court under no circumstances, please do not renew the contract with LaSalle,” she said. “I don’t want a single dollar of my money to go to the people that killed our sons.”
Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare this week announced a sharp decline in the county’s criminal court case backlog — an effort that’s led to a significantly lower jail population than under his predecessor, District Attorney Kim Ogg, Teare said.
With less significant court delays and efforts to get the jail back in compliance, Bosquez said the sheriff’s office is on track to stop outsourcing about 600 inmates to a facility in Olla, Louisiana, by 2027.
“We want to get them within the Houston bubble,” Bosquez said.
The other outsource facilities in Beaumont and Natchitoches, Louisiana are primarily used for Texas Department of Criminal Justice overflow — for prisoners who have been convicted and are awaiting a transfer to a state detention facility.