CORONAVIRUS CASES ARE INCREASING AT TEXAS JAIL WHERE EFFORTS TO RELEASE PEOPLE AMID PANDEMIC FELL APART

The Harris County Jail cut its population by more than 1,500 people in March and April but is now on track to eclipse its pre-pandemic population.
A MONTH AFTER a criminal justice group warned that a Houston, Texas, jail that experienced a Covid-19 outbreak was on track to eclipse its pre-pandemic population, the jail is again seeing a rise in coronavirus cases.
Early on in the pandemic, the Harris County judge, sheriff, and local advocates collaborated to reduce the jail population, primarily through “compassionate release” for people detained on nonviolent charges. Those efforts were stalled due to competing orders from state and local judges. Now, local officials are putting the blame on one another for letting conditions at the downtown Houston jail — home to the one of the largest incarcerated populations in the country —

Since the start of the coronavirus outbreak to date, close to 1,000 people held in the jail have tested positive for Covid-19. One detained person and more than 12 staff were recently hospitalized with the virus, and two people who were incarcerated at the jail have died from it. The jail saw a spike in mid-April, with nearly 200 cases being reported at that time. Also in mid-April, the number of people incarcerated in Harris County Jail hit a low point of 7,363