Jerome Nebuwa Dies After Being Assaulted in Harris County Jail

The Harris County Sheriff’s Department, in Houston, Texas, recently filed a misleading custodial death report with the Attorney General of Texas regarding the death of Jerome Nebuwa.  Mr. Nebuwa was only 30 years old at the time of his death.  Information in this post was obtained from that report, and we make no allegation of any wrongdoing against the Harris County Sheriff’s Department regarding the death. 

Mr. Nebuwa was arrested originally incarcerated in the Harris County jail on November 20, 2019.  He passed away on May 6, 2020. 

News media have reported that a fellow inmate assaulted Mr. Nebuwa.  In fact, news media have reported that the fellow inmate has been charged with murdering Mr. Nebuwa.  Despite the apparent cause of Mr. Nebuwa’s death, the entire summary in the report read as follows:

On November 20, 2019, the decedent was arrested on a felony warrant and booked into the Harris County Jail. On May 5, 2020, the decedent was being transported from the 701 clinic to the 1200 clinic for X-rays while in a wheelchair. During the transport, the decedent slipped out of the wheelchair and fell onto the ground. The decedent was transported back to the 701 clinic and subsequently transported to Ben Taub Hospital for Altered Mental Status. The decedent underwent head surgery and was determined to be COVID-19 positive. On May 6, 2020, a doctor determined the decedent had no signs of life with a preliminary cause of death as traumatic brain injury.

Pretrial detainees in Texas county jails have the constitutional right, pursuant to the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, to be protected from fellow inmates.  If one or more jailers knew that Mr. Nebuwa was at a substantial risk of significant harm, and one or more jailers placed Mr. Nebuwa in a cell with the person who apparently murdered him, then they could be liable to certain surviving family members.  Such lawsuits are usually filed in federal court in Texas. 

Written By: Dean Malone

Dean Malone

Dean Malone is the founder of Law Offices of Dean Malone, P.C., a jail neglect civil rights law firm. Mr. Malone earned his bachelor's degree at the University of Texas at Dallas, graduating summa cum laude with a 4.0 GPA, and from Baylor University School of Law with a general civil litigation concentration. Mr. Malone served in several staff positions for the Baylor Law Review, including executive editor. Mr. Malone is an experienced trial lawyer, trying a number of cases to jury verdict and also handling arbitrations through final hearing. He heads the jail neglect section of his law firm, in which lawyers litigate cases involving serious injury and death resulting from jail neglect and abuse. Lawyers frequently refer cases to Mr. Malone due to his focus on this very complicated civil rights practice area.