Statement from Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez on crowded jails

A crowded local jail is only one reason to seek other tools such as Cite and Releases. We must all work together to make sure we have an effective system that works for both crime victims and the accused. Keep in mind, this is all in the pre-trial phase of a criminal case.

Managing the largest jail in our state and one of the largest in the country affords me a unique perspective. Each day we work diligently to make sure we lift where we stand and make the system we have worked better. But we also need others to do more. For example, we need the wheels of justice to move at a good pace. Let’s give offenders their day in court and the victim’s closure in their cases. That is true accountability, not simply holding people locked up on “pre-trial” status because they can’t get their case to court, all while taxpayers pay the costly bill and tie up the court system. Some judges have hundreds of pre-trial (not yet convicted) inmates on their dockets. I laughed when one judge thought a request for a 2 pm meeting with me was bizarre since apparently that’s too late. Moreover, many attorneys (that don’t work at the public defender's office) only visit their clients in court, rarely in jail. Of the 45 women I visited weeks ago in my jail, only 4 of them had had any attorney visits. Another Military Vet we visited in jail had an appointed lawyer and after 1,062 days he had only 3 visits. Finally, that one was removed and a new one appointed. Defendants end up not trusting their lawyers and therefore can’t participate or move forward with their criminal case(s). If someone doesn’t trust the person whose life is in the hands of a lawyer who is absent then the system is failing and there is no such thing as procedural justice. And victims don’t get closure in a timely manner. And our taxpayers pay the bill. Just sharing perspective on some of what I see on a regular basis that often gets overlooked.