Forty-six-year-old Wayne Joseph Dunlap died in a municipal holding cell in Killeen, Texas, on December 2, 2022. He had been incarcerated for fewer than 24 hours when he died. The address of the Killeen City Jail is 3304 Community Blvd, Killeen TX 76542 in Bell County.

Harris County Jail Given a Deadline by the State to Remedy Jail Overcrowding

In September 2022, the Harris County Sheriff’s Office was given 30 days by the state to submit a corrective plan of action for jail overcrowding. This action occurred after the Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) issued a citation for noncompliance with minimum jail standards. The special jail inspection report named 64 inmates who spent longer than the maximum 48 hours in holding cells in the booking area.

The county refers back to a growing backlog of criminal cases that began during the Hurricane Harvey crisis in 2017. The courthouse building was structurally damaged due to flooding caused by the hurricane. During shutdowns related to Covid 19, the backlog of cases continued to grow.

A September 2022 news article about overcrowding in Harris County Jail stated that 10,343 inmates were held in the Harris County Jail and nearly half of them faced charges of violent crimes. It had been over a decade since the jail population had exceeded 10,000. An additional 597 prisoners had been moved to a La Salle Parish jail in Louisiana. On top of that, a contract was signed in September moving 600 additional individuals to a Garza County jail facility.

Learn more in Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of this continuing series.

Each of the posts on this site is intended as a resource to help local prisoners detained in Texas municipal and county jails. Making accusatory statements about organizations or individuals is never intended on this website.

–Guest Contributor