Despite Texas defendant's death in Louisiana prison, lawmakers unlikely to end reliance on out-of-state lockups

Yahoo

03-04-2025

One year after Harris County criminal defendant Jaleen Anderson died in a Louisiana prison, some Texas lawmakers want more transparency into the out-of-state lockups holding Texas' growing jail population.
But Texas officials are also considering bills that could likely increase the number of people county jail officials must house as they await the resolutions of their cases.
And Anderson's family is still seeking answers about how the 29-year-old died in private prison in a neighboring state.
The Houston resident was arrested on drug possession charges in March 2024. He was denied bail, and Harris County officials sent him to a Louisiana prison annually paid millions of dollars to hold inmates Texas' most populous county can't accommodate. Although Harris County has the largest jail in the state, it faces a chronic staffing shortage that prevents them from using all of their jail beds.
Out-of-state facilities do not have to follow the standards set by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards. And they don't have to adhere to a Texas law that requires the reporting and investigation of deaths of people in jails or prisons within the state.
Anderson's family filed a civil lawsuit Wednesday against several defendants, including Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzales and corrections staff at the Louisiana prison where Anderson died. While at LaSalle, Anderson suffered repeated seizures that left him vomiting, disoriented and unresponsive.
Texas lawmakers have filed three bills that would require the state to report deaths like Anderson's that occur out-of-state. One of them, Senate Bill 2289, unanimously passed through the Senate Criminal Justice Committee this week. Filed by Sen. Borris Miles, D-Houston, the bill would mandate jails to report how many inmates are confined in out-of-state lockups and the total number of deaths that have occurred in them.
Aside from Harris County, four other East Texas counties — Sabine, Tyler, Newton and Chambers — are also holding inmates in private prisons out of Texas because they don't have enough space in their own county jails, said Brandon Wood, executive director of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards.
That figure could continue to increase if Texas lawmakers pass bills that increase criminal penalties or create new felony crimes while the state does not currently have capacity to hold more people.
'There's no large block of jail beds available in Texas,' said Billy Bryan, former president of the Texas Jail Association. Counties are sending inmates out of state because, Bryan said, 'there's no alternative.'
Lawmakers are also considering bills that would change the state's bail policies and keep more criminal defendants in jail while they await the resolution of their cases. Those changes — which have the support of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Gov. Greg Abbott — would likely increase the number of people in county jails, which mostly hold people who have been accused but not yet convicted of a crime.
Texas county jails house about 71,000 people, based on data provided by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards. Some 3,596 of those are held outside of their county of arrest — either because their jail doesn't have enough space or because they don't have enough staff. That number is lower than it was in February but higher than the average over the past five years.
Harris County currently has about 1,200 people housed in out-of-state facilities, including 521 in LaSalle, a county spokesperson said.
In their lawsuit, Anderson's family alleges 'unconstitutional conditions in LaSalle.' And it accuses Harris County of breaching its duty to provide adequate medical care to its detainees.
Harris County 'cannot delegate its duty to provide care for and ensure that its detainees receive adequate medical care,' attorney Stephen Weil said during a Wednesday press event about the lawsuit. Weil is one of the attorney's representing Anderson's family.
The Harris County Sheriff's Office completed an investigation into Anderson's death, according to Jason Spencer, a spokesperson for the office. Spencer declined to comment on the findings, saying he is unauthorized to discuss them because of the litigation.
He said in a written statement that LaSalle is required to meet stringent health and safety standards for Harris County inmates, and the Harris County Sheriff's Office conducts facility inspections to ensure compliance.
'The Sheriff's Office continues to work with LaSalle and other outsourcing providers to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all inmates,' Spencer said.
Still, state leaders have expressed concerns about the standards of jails and prisons in other states. During their quarterly meetings, members of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards often ask county officials about standards in other states and encourage them to exhaust all options in Texas before looking at out-of-state facilities.
But lawmakers have not filed legislation to prohibit the practice of outsourcing — in part because there isn't space in Texas.
Bryan, who also chairs the legislative committee of the Texas Jail Association, lauded Miles for 'starting the conversation' about outsourcing and said his bill will enhance accountability.
Another bill, Senate Bill 2263, filed by Sen. Molly Cook, D-Houston, would also require the justice of the peace where the county jail is located to conduct an investigation into out-of-state jail deaths and file a report with the attorney general within a month of the inmates' death. That bill was referred to the Senate Criminal Justice Committee. A hearing has not been scheduled.
House Bill 4642, by Rep. Mary González, would also require out-of-state correctional facilities that house Texas inmates to meet the minimum standards set by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards. That bill has not been referred to a committee.
In the year since Anderson died, his mother, Sarah Knight, has sought information about how Anderson died. She has pushed the county to conduct an investigation and urged county officials and state leaders to stop sending inmates to out-of-state facilities.
Through an investigation conducted by the Harris County Sheriff's Office, Knight has received a trove of information: video footage, interviews and other documents that she says have helped her piece together her son's final days. What she found has only left her more impassioned.
'It feels like he was killed by LaSalle,' Knight said between tears on Thursday. 'When you let someone die this way, it's very hard … it's a hard day.'
The report findings, the family's legal filing claims, outline a harrowing series of events where Anderson suffered escalating seizures and requested medical attention to no avail. Screenshots of video surveillance footage included in the legal filing show Anderson lying on the concrete floor of a cell and sitting huddled in a wheelchair.
Although guards repeatedly called called attention to his condition, 'one nurse after another brushed them off, making no effort to determine why Mr. Anderson kept having seizures or whether he was in danger,' the complaint states.
The complaint also documents prior lawsuits against LaSalle that allege inadequate medical care. The company's track record is well documented and should have been cause for alarm for Harris County, the attorneys argue.
Four Texas inmates have died while held in LaSalle, according to Texas Jail Project founder Krish Gundu, whose organization tracks jail deaths and advocates for people in county jails.
'We hope this lawsuit will send a strong message that our community will no longer tolerate our loved ones being arbitrarily ripped away from their families and transferred hundreds of miles away,' said Gundu, who is not named in the lawsuit but is in support of it.
Tickets are on sale now for the 15th annual Texas Tribune Festival, Texas' breakout ideas and politics event happening Nov. 13–15 in downtown Austin. Get tickets before May 1 and save big! TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.