This post was updated Aug. 7, 2023 with new information as more lawsuits have been filed and settlement agreements have become available.

The Houston Landing searched 10 years of county and federal court records to determine the number of lawsuits related to Harris County Jail conditions and treatment filed by current and former Harris County Jail inmates, as well as their family members.

We found 52.

Ten of those lawsuits were related to deaths at the jail. At least seven were settled out of court.

Settlement agreement amounts weren’t publicly available in court documents, but the Landing was able to determine that the county has paid at least $4.5 million, including a $400,000 settlement paid in 2015 to Terry Goodwin, a mentally ill inmate who was left in a jail cell for weeks amongst trash, feces and insects, which was settled without taking legal action.

Search the names and details of these lawsuits in our interactive table, or click on “get the data” at the bottom of the table to download our entire database.

Are we missing a lawsuit? Please reach out to Alex Stuckey on Twitter or email.

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Search our data: 52 lawsuits filed by Harris County Jail inmates, families over treatment and conditions

by Alex Stuckey, Houston Landing
May 9, 2023

<h1>Search our data: 52 lawsuits filed by Harris County Jail inmates, families over treatment and conditions</h1> <p class="byline">by Alex Stuckey, Houston Landing <br />May 9, 2023</p> <p><em>This post was updated Aug. 7, 2023 with new information as more lawsuits have been filed and settlement agreements have become available.</em></p> <p>The Houston Landing searched 10 years of county and federal court records to determine the number of lawsuits related to Harris County Jail conditions and treatment filed by current and former Harris County Jail inmates, as well as their family members.</p> <p><a href="https://www.houstonlanding.org/parents-of-man-who-died-in-harris-county-jail-sues-officials/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">We found 52</a>.</p> <figure class="wp-block-image alignright"><a href="https://houstonlanding.org/deadly-detention/"><img src="https://www.houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Deadly-Detention_logo_Modified-256x300.jpg" alt="A Houston Landing investigation found that nearly 180 people in Texas had been flagged as potentially mentally ill but died in jail instead of getting the care they needed." class="wp-image-766" /></a></figure> <p>Ten of those lawsuits were related to deaths at the jail. At least seven were settled out of court.</p> <p>Settlement agreement amounts weren't publicly available in court documents, but the Landing was able to determine that the county has paid at least $4.5 million, including <a href="https://abc13.com/ted-oberg-investigates-squalid-jail-cell/762410/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> a $400,000 settlement paid in 2015 to Terry Goodwin</a>, a mentally ill inmate who was left in a jail cell for weeks amongst trash, feces and insects, which was settled without taking legal action.</p> <p>Search the names and details of these lawsuits in our interactive table, or click on "get the data" at the bottom of the table to download our entire database.</p> <p><em>Are we missing a lawsuit? Please reach out to Alex Stuckey on <a href="https://twitter.com/alexdstuckey" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Twitter</a>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<a href="mailto:alex@houstonlanding.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">email</a>.</em></p> <figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter is-resized"><img src="https://www.houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/divider.png" alt="" class="wp-image-482" style="width:810px;height:3px" /></figure> <div class="wp-block-group"> !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r=0;r&lt;e.length;r++)if(e[r].contentWindow===a.source){var i=a.data[&quot;datawrapper-height&quot;][t]+&quot;px&quot;;e[r].style.height=i}}}))}();</p></div> <p>This <a target="_blank" href="https://houstonlanding.org/search-our-data-harris-county-jail-inmates-families-sue-over-treatment-and-conditions/">article</a> first appeared on <a target="_blank" href="https://houstonlanding.org">Houston Landing</a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.<img src="https://i0.wp.com/houstonlanding.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/cropped-Frame-5-2.png?fit=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1" style="width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;"><img id="republication-tracker-tool-source" src="https://houstonlanding.org/?republication-pixel=true&post=4526&amp;ga4=G-4E41V78RX3" style="width:1px;height:1px;"></p> Copy to Clipboard

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