Jaquaree Simmons was 23 years old when he died on February 17, 2021. For one week he had been an inmate at Harris County Jail in Houston, Texas when he was found unresponsive in his cell and was pronounced dead within hours. No details as to the cause of death were provided in the custodial death report.

The Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) sets the guidelines by which county sheriffs in the state must handle jail operations. Among those requirements is providing health care as needed. Suicide prevention is also an essential element of trying to prevent inmates from dying behind bars.

TCJS sends an inspector to each of the 241 county jails in the state each year. Currently, there are only four inspectors to make the rounds of all jails in the state annually. It has been suggested that oversight by TCJS is lacking because studies done of numerous custodial deaths in the state revealed that none of the jails had been cited for noncompliance during the scrutinized periods when deaths occur.

Many times, the Texas county jails that are cited for failing to meet minimum jail standards have allegedly violated the rules in ways that can have an impact on inmate safety. Learn about some of the jail inspection reports for non-compliance in the next and final segment in this series.

See Part 1 of this continuing series.

The posts on this website are intended as helpful sources of information for Texas prisoners previously or currently incarcerated in county jails. There is no intent to imply wrongdoing on the part of persons or organizations.

–Guest Contributor