County officials are considering adding new district courts and making more room for detainees in an effort to reduce to county’s court backlog and alleviate overcrowding at the Harris County Jail.
During Commissioners Court on Tuesday, officials considered adding six more district courts to help expedite pending cases in the county’s criminal court system.
County Judge Lina Hidalgo questioned whether focusing directly on the county’s court system would make a significant impact on the jail’s bloated population.
“How do we know that if we bring these new courts that cases will: number one, move faster, and number two, that the backlog reduction will translate into a reduction in the jail population?,” Hidalgo asked.
The number of pending criminal cases in the county has decreased by more than 20% over the last year, according to Harris County's district court dashboard. Despite the backlog reduction, the jail’s daily population has continued to increase.
As of Wednesday, there were 9,915 people in the jail and 1,051 people outsourced to other facilities, according to the Harris County Jail dashboard. The facility’s daily population has been dangerously close to maximum capacity since June 2022.
Last year, 27 people died with in custody — the highest number in nearly two decades, according to county records and data from Texas Justice Initiative. So far, at least four people have died while in custody this year.
The county’s budget office said the additional courts would cost the county about $30 million to build. After construction, the courts would cost nearly $17 million per year to operate.
On Wednesday, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said she supported adding more courts, but was concerned about the amount of time needed for the new courts to make a meaningful dent in the backlog and overcrowding in the jail.
“I would simply be concerned about the timing that we need time to ramp up,” Ogg said. “It’s not an immediate fix to the problems of the Harris County Jail. It would take time for the legislature to agree and approve, then implement, then you’d have to hire.”
Jail reform advocates say the DA’s Office should follow the recommendations of a 2020 report from the Justice Management Institute, which suggests the department dismiss “all non-violent felony cases older than nine months” in order to alleviate the number of pending cases. The report found that of all the county’s felony cases in 2019, about 57% were either dropped or deferred.
In response, Ogg said the recommendation was “an unrealistic solution.”
“Not only is it unfair, it’s basically unethical,” Ogg said. “If I were to simply dismiss cases because they were over nine months old, it would punish crime victims and it would punish innocent people who might be subjected to repeat crimes.”
On Tuesday, commissioners also discussed the possibility of renovating the existing jail or building a bigger jail to house more inmates. Hidalgo cautioned against moving forward until discussing further with Sheriff Ed Gonzalez and until further review of the jail is conducted.
“Jails are like highways: if you build it, you fill it,” Hidalgo said. “I’m not trying to have 20,000 at capacity instead of 10,000.”
At the end of Tuesday’s discussion, commissioners unanimously voted to direct the Harris County Office of Justice and Safety to prepare a report examining the jail’s population increase and develop recommendations to reduce overcrowding.
Commissioners also directed the Office of County Administration to work with Harris Health — which operates health services in the jail — to prepare a report on medical staffing in the jail.
These reports will be brought to Commissioners Court on March 14.
