FBI investigating inmate deaths at Harris County Jail in Houston

Dozens of inmate deaths have been reported at the Harris County Jail in Houston in recent years. Now, federal authorities are stepping in to investigate.

The FBI announced the launch of a civil rights investigation Monday. The investigation is focusing on the deaths of Jaquaree Simmons, who died in February 2021, and Jacoby Pillow, who died last month.

“These investigations will be fair, thorough and impartial, and will proceed independently of any state investigations involving incidents at the jail,” the Houston branch of the FBI tweeted. “To preserve the integrity and capabilities of the investigations, no details of the ongoing process will be publicly shared.”

Simmons’ and Pillow’s death are far from the only inmate deaths at the Houston jail in the last few years. At least 21 inmates died while in custody in 2021. 28 inmates died last year, and another four have died in the first two months of 2023.

“It is appalling that you have 32 detainees die in the Harris County Jail in a 14 month period,” civil rights attorney Ben Crump said earlier this week. “I mean, nobody really would believe it unless you had these bodies that showed you it was really happening. On average, that’s two people a month dying in the jail here in Houston.”

The FBI investigation announcement came after weeks of public calls from Crump and others for an explanation for the inmate deaths.

“Houston, we have a problem in the Harris County Jail,” Crump said. “We cannot continue to look the other way because how many people have to lose their sons and daughters, their brothers, their sisters, their husbands? How many more before we say we have to do something?”