The Attorney General’s Office reported that Robert Horn, 70, was transported to the Harris County Joint Processing Center on October 24 at 6:40 p.m. Horn was declared dead at St. Joseph Hospital on Oct. 26 at 2:37 a.m. after experiencing “a medical emergency while sitting in a chair,” less than two days later.
In the days that followed, Horn’s attorney, Sara Smitherman, from the Public Defenders Office, continued to file court documents, a Request for Discovery on October 31. On November 1, the case was ultimately dismissed.
Krishnaveni Gundu, executive director of the Texas Jail Project, believes that this raises questions about a communication breakdown between the jail and attorneys for clients.
“The lawyer was unaware of his passing.” “Nobody knew he passed away,” stated Gundu. The jail is currently actively trying to keep a lid on these deaths, so something needs to be done about this practice.
When contacted for comment, the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, which is in charge of the jail, remained silent. Attempts to reach Smitherman for comment were unsuccessful.
Horn’s passing occurs just a few weeks after three other people passed away while they were in jail: Bryan Johnson, 34; Victoria Simon, 42; and Alan Kerber, 34. With Horn’s passing, there have now been at least 23 deaths while in custody this year.
Advocates for jail reform, such as Elizabeth Rossi, the Civil Rights Corps’ director of strategic initiatives, claim that the facility’s overcrowded population, which has remained around 10,000 people — dangerously close to the facility’s maximum capacity — is to blame for the rise in in-custody deaths. According to the Harris County Jail website, 10,067 inmates were detained as of Monday.
Rossi claimed that over-incarceration and Senate Bill 6, which forbids cashless bail for felony defendants and requires the preparation of a public safety report for each person brought into the jail, have contributed to the rise in deaths.
Rossi went on to say that she thinks the Harris County District Attorney’s Office could solve the issue by dropping more charges and clearing up the backlog in the county’s criminal justice system.
Cases must be thrown out, and bail hearings must take place, according to Rossi. Nobody should be imprisoned unless the government can demonstrate that doing so is absolutely necessary. At the Harris County Jail, another person has passed away while being held there, bringing the total to the most such deaths in a calendar year in more than ten years.
The Attorney General’s Office reported that Robert Horn, 70, was transported to the Harris County Joint Processing Center on October 24 at 6:40 p.m. Horn was declared dead at St. Joseph Hospital on Oct. 26 at 2:37 a.m. after experiencing “a medical emergency while sitting in a chair,” less than two days later.
In the days that followed, Horn’s attorney, Sara Smitherman, from the Public Defenders Office, continued to file court documents, a Request for Discovery on October 31. On November 1, the case was ultimately dismissed.
Krishnaveni Gundu, executive director of the Texas Jail Project, believes that this raises questions about a communication breakdown between the jail and attorneys for clients.
“The lawyer was unaware of his passing.” “Nobody knew he passed away,” stated Gundu. The jail is currently actively trying to keep a lid on these deaths, so something needs to be done about this practice.
When contacted for comment, the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, which is in charge of the jail, remained silent. Attempts to reach Smitherman for comment were unsuccessful.
Horn’s passing occurs just a few weeks after three other people passed away while they were in jail: Bryan Johnson, 34; Victoria Simon, 42; and Alan Kerber, 34. With Horn’s passing, there have now been at least 23 deaths while in custody this year.
Advocates for jail reform, such as Elizabeth Rossi, the Civil Rights Corps’ director of strategic initiatives, claim that the facility’s overcrowded population, which has remained around 10,000 people — dangerously close to the facility’s maximum capacity — is to blame for the rise in in-custody deaths. According to the Harris County Jail website, 10,067 inmates were detained as of Monday.
Rossi claimed that over-incarceration and Senate Bill 6, which forbids cashless bail for felony defendants and requires the preparation of a public safety report for each person brought into the jail, have contributed to the rise in deaths.
Rossi went on to say that she thinks the Harris County District Attorney’s Office could solve the issue by dropping more charges and clearing up the backlog in the county’s criminal justice system.
Cases must be thrown out, and bail hearings must take place, according to Rossi. Nobody should be imprisoned unless the government can demonstrate that doing so is absolutely necessary.
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