HOUSTON – A 62-year-old man in custody at the Harris County Jail died Thursday after authorities said he suffered an apparent medical emergency.
Authorities said Raymond Cooper, 62, suffered a medical emergency in a medical ward of the jail. CPR and lifesaving measures were administered quickly and Houston Fire Department EMS transported him to a local hospital. Cooper was pronounced dead at the hospital at approximately 5:32 a.m., the Harris County Sheriff’s Office said.
Deputies said Cooper had no obvious physical injuries. He had been in jail since July 15, 2023.
According to the Texas Jail Project, at least a dozen people have died in the Harris County Jail so far this year.
Earlier this year, the Harris County Jail failed an inspection by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards because inmates were not seen by medical staff within 48 hours, as required by the facility plan.
The most recent failed inspection came in August, as state inspectors found inmates were kept in the booking process for longer than the 48-hour maximum, jailers didn’t observe inmates often enough, and the jail didn’t meet staffing requirements of one jailer for every 48 inmates.
“In my June letter I also made the case for investing more in our detention officers,” Sheriff Ed Gonzalez told county commissioners last month. “The inspectors placed the blame squarely on inadequate staffing. We don’t have enough people to keep the jail safe, period. We have 178 job vacancies and little chance of filling them with a starting pay of $19.99 per hour.”
Sheriff Gonzalez encouraged commissioners to consider a consultant’s recommendation to increase detention officer pay by at least 12 percent to be comparable with other agencies in the region for the upcoming budget.
The new budget, which takes effect Oct. 1, also proposes more than $37 million in funding to continue sending prisoners to different facilities to combat overcrowding.
The Texas Jail Project, on behalf of family members who have lost loved ones in the jail, last month sent an open letter to county leaders calling it a “human rights crisis” within the jail walls and claiming the county hasn’t done enough to address chronic overcrowding.
Cooper’s death is being investigated by the Texas Rangers in accordance with a state law that requires all jail deaths to be investigated by an outside law enforcement agency.
The Sheriff’s Office Internal Affairs Division is also investigating to determine whether all applicable policies and procedures were followed, which is standard following the death of a person in jail.
An autopsy will be performed by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences to determine Cooper’s cause of death. It has also been reported to the Texas Commission on Jail Standards.
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