Harris County murder suspect awaiting trial for 18 years outlines bigger problem in jail

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) -- A Harris County capital murder suspect has been in jail for nearly 18 years without a trial. He's among a growing number of inmates spending an extended amount of time in the Harris County jail because of mental incompetency.

While his case is an outlier, it is symptomatic of a bigger problem Harris County is trying to address to relieve overcrowding. Now, we're getting a clearer picture of those ongoing problems, even as the county works to understand them and fix them.

At commissioner's court on Tuesday, the county's director of justice innovation revealed the staggering numbers.

The jail's population has increased by 13% since 2020. Nearly six in 10 are those facing violent and serious charges.

We learned that 1,399 inmates have been in custody for more than one year, nearly a third of those between two and five years. One person has been awaiting trial for nine years.

But those numbers don't compare to the revelation that one inmate, whose mental competency has been an issue, has been in custody for nearly 18 years. It was learned while looking into how to improve the jail's systems and conditions.

"It's long overdue," Judge Lina Hidalgo said. "It's a terrible thing to find. But the silver lining is that we have identified this, and this is the kind of thing I wanted to come to light when I asked the county administrator to really dig into the jail. Every time somebody is sent to the state hospital to get their competency restored, and they come back to the jail, they're assigned a new number. "

That meant every time that one inmate came back to Harris County, it seemed to the system he was a new inmate, and the clock effectively started over. Now, his case is getting prioritized, but there are others.

Harris County Precinct 4 Commissioner Lesley Briones praised those who uncovered the inmate's case but urged the county to do more in the name of justice for victims and alleged criminals.

"The jail is a top priority for all of us and it is a tragedy, and it is a travesty," she said. "What a travesty that this person got lost in the system on everyone's watch. That should never happen again."

The county is trying to speed up the process and lessen the overcrowding with a pilot program that deals with mental competency in-house instead of relying on the state because the problem is not going away.

"Unfortunately, the population of person charged with crimes who are found incompetent is growing," 351st District Court Judge Natalia Cornelio said. "It has been steadily growing over the past few years."

Now, the issue is funding. With federal COVID-19 money going away, the county will have to find money elsewhere to fight the overcrowding and prevent people still awaiting trial from spending years or decades behind bars.

ABC13 is working to learn more about the inmate who has been in jail for 18 years awaiting trial. Neither the county administration nor the courts would release his name.

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