Activists demand Harris County Sheriff Garcia to resign over jail abuse claims
HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Activists are demanding Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia's resignation over jail abuse claims first exposed by Eyewitness News' Ted Oberg last fall.
Quanell X made a statement Sunday afternoon and he is making Sheriff Garcia out to be the villain in all this, someone who punished others when he supposedly knew about an inmate's conditions all along.
An ABC-13 investigation by Ted Oberg revealed a mentally-ill Harris County jail inmate living in putrid conditions for an estimated two months in 2013.
Now, after months of internal investigation, we learned two detention sergeants and four supervisors had been fired in connection to the mistreatment of that inmate, Terry Goodwin.
Quanell X and Goodwin's parents made a statement in front of the jail Sunday saying the sheriff is covering up his own involvement.
They are calling for the resignation of Sheriff Garcia, who says he did not know about the deplorable cell conditions until Eyewitness News alerted him to it last year.
On top of the firings, 29 jail staff members have been suspended for about three days.
"If you didn't know, Adrian Garcia, you should have known. You are incompetent and I want the citizens of Harris County, I want everybody in Houston and surrounding areas to understand, if this were your son, would three days punishment be enough for his heinous treatment," said Goodwin's mother, Mashell Lambert.
"Adrian Garcia was not in the dark about what took place with this brother in this jail. Adrian Garcia was kept in the loop," said Quanell X.
Goodwin's case was brought to ABC-13's attention by a whistle blower who took photos of his cell, showing a toilet overflowing with excrement, Goodwin in a tattered uniforms and piles of trash layered with insects.
Quanell X and Goodwin's parents want the Department of Justice to investigate the jail, saying they know there are more cases just like this one.
Here is a statement issued on behalf of Sheriff Adrian Garcia:
