By DALE LEZON
The Rev. Robert Jefferson, at the podium, of Houston Ministers Against
Crime, and a coalition of community groups Tuesday announced findings from their recent tour of the Harris County Jail. The
members said the jail is crowded and inmates there lack adequate medical care.
Crowding and unsanitary conditions in the Harris County Jail have
spurred a group of community leaders, clergy members and civil rights advocates to request a meeting this week with county
officials to seek solutions.
"We know it's not supposed to be comfortable for people who are incarcerated,
but it is supposed to be humane," Yolanda Smith, executive director of the Houston chapter of the NAACP, said Tuesday.
Smith and other community leaders expect to meet Friday with county
criminal justice officials and judges to discuss ways to limit the number of people placed in jail and help probationers stay
out.
The Texas Commission on Jail Standards recently decertified the county
jail for the second consecutive year, saying it is badly crowded and understaffed. Large sections of the downtown jail complex
sit empty, and too many inmates are cramped into other areas because too few guards are available, the commission reported.
County Judge Robert Eckels said he is aware of the problems and will
work with other officials to fix them. Public safety is paramount, he said, and the county will consider streamlining the
booking process and the bonding-out system to help move people with misdemeanor arrests through the jail more quickly.
County leaders are scheduled to meet with the state commission Aug.
4 to discuss the problems.
"Harris County has been willing to address issues in the past and
brought the jail into compliance with our standards," said Terry Julian, commission executive director.
Some county officials have placed some of the blame on the state
prison system, saying it could move more quickly to relieve the county jail of prison-ready inmates. State officials say they
move their inmates out of county jails as prescribed by an agreement between the state and counties.
Smith said she and other community leaders who toured the jail Friday
saw inmates with skin rashes and infections. They were packed into dormitories and lying on mattresses near overflowing toilets,
she said.
Smith said she doesn't blame the jail staff, but thinks the unsafe
conditions resulted from a county judicial system that jails people when other options might be better.
"It's a culture of not being hard on crime, but being hard on people,"
said defense attorney Randall Kallinen, president of the Houston chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
