A former Harris County Jail detention officer was indicted Thursday and charged in connection to the death of an inmate from 2021, which is the first time charges have been filed for an in-custody death at the jail, according to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.
and suspended six others in the wake of the investigation. Morales is the only one charged in the death.
Simmons was then left in the cell without clothing, which sheriff’s officials said is a violation of jail policy, according to prosecutors. Detention officers again used force in handcuffing and removing Simmons from the cell. It was in that confrontation that Simmons received “multiple blows to his head,” according to the sheriff’s office. Simmons received a medical evaluation and was later returned to his cell, where he was left unmonitored because of a power outage related to the winter storm and the failure of detention officers to conduct visual checks as required.
The indictment charges state that the detention officer assaulted Simmons by kneeing him in the head, striking his head against a door and dropping him on his head, resulting in his death, according to the DA.
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