Houston Public Media: Harris County DA says intake division changes will ease case backlog, ‘humanitarian crisis’ in jail

Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare says the intake division in his office is fully staffed by line prosecutors for the first time in eight years, a move aimed at alleviating a massive court case backlog and addressing a “humanitarian crisis” in the Harris County Jail.

Along with persistent staffing issues, the lingering case backlog is largely at the center of blame for overcrowding within the Harris County Jail. Addressing the intake division’s staffing issues, Teare said, will help free up space in the jail and alleviate the county’s spending.

The intake system started in 1972 as a result of bad cases filed by the police department that were subsequently kicked 30 to 90 days down the line, he said.

A seemingly smooth court system ground to a halt following Hurricane Harvey in 2017. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the issues in 2021. According to the district attorney’s office’s case dashboard, more than 107,000 cases remain pending in the county.

The Harris County Jail has repeatedly failed state safety inspections as the facility grapples with persistent staffing problems and overcrowding. The county has invested millions of dollars into outsourcing detainees to private facilities outside of Harris County to alleviate the issues.

The county is on track to spend more than $58 million on outsourcing around 1,400 inmates this year — likely the single most expensive bill that the county foots.

Krishnaveni Gundu, executive director of the Texas Jail Project, said the problem with the jail isn’t a lack of beds — it’s the county’s failure to comply with the state’s mandated ratio of one detention officer for every 48 prisoners. The county has instead opted to send prisoners out of state.