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HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Lawyers and family members of Harris County Jail inmates who died while in custody are calling on the Department of Justice to investigate the significant trend in deaths at the jail.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump was in downtown Houston leading a news conference on Monday representing those families.
“If that were your loved one, you’d say, ‘shut this down until you can guarantee us that my loved one isn’t going to die at the hands of the people who are supposed to protect them.’ Politicians can’t keep hiding behind words like it’s systemic, that we have an investigation going on,” Crump said.
Families of Jacoby Pillow and Kevin Smith Jr., who both died while at the jail last month, were among a growing number of grieving loved ones who want answers to what is happening at the Harris County Jail.
Pillow’s family says he was in the process of being released on a $100 bond for a misdemeanor trespassing charge when he was involved in an altercation with jail personnel.
Pillow received new charges and was detained overnight instead of being released. The following morning on Jan. 3, 2023, he was reportedly found dead.
Smith’s family said he was there for a parole violation when he was found unresponsive and was determined to be dead in January.
Weeks later, Smith’s uncle also died while in custody at the jail, bringing the total number of 2023 deaths so far to four.
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office announced Monday that the FBI will review the deaths of Jaquaree Simmons in February 2021 and Jacoby Pillow last month.
In Simmons’ case, 11 jail employees have been fired, six suspended, and one charged with manslaughter.
Pillow’s cause of death is still pending with the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences. The Houston Police Department is also investigating his death, HCSO said.