Last night, at approx 10pm, a citizen was washing his Jeep Wrangler when he was approached by six young males. At least one brandished a weapon and demanded the vehicle from the citizen. This took place at a carwash near Bammel.

One of the males fled in the initial vehicle 1/4 they were in and the other 5 males fled in the Jeep. @HCSOTexas deputies located the stolen Jeep and a fairly short pursuit took place. When the Jeep was n/b on Imperial Valley it crossed the intersection of Remington Valley. The Jeep was traveling at a high rate 2/4

It’s important for us to run a safe, effective, and efficient jail operation. Running the largest jail in Texas is an immense challenge. We operate at or near full capacity on a regular basis. Outsourcing is not a preferred solution; we’re already sending hundreds to a 1/10 facility in Louisiana and still the need persists. Now we will be sending hundreds more to a facility in West Texas. I’m grateful to Commissioner’s Court for providing the necessary funding. This is not a decision any of us take lightly. The case backlogs in our local courts 1/2

Our HCSO jail is full. Harris County law enforcement does a great job of proactive policing, but offenders must be tried swiftly and prosecuted to the fullest. If found guilty, they need to be sent to prison quickly, sending a message that persons will be held accountable. 1/5 Also freeing space for other offenders to be incarcerated Long delays only keeps our local jail full, which operationally isn’t sustainable. We have limited capacity resulting in us having to temporarily outsource defendants to other jails, but that is not a long-term fix. 2/5

A common suggestion is that having defendants in jail during a pandemic may actually be safer: isolated & can be quarantine. I want to share some thoughts regarding the challenge: (1)-it’s impossible to practice social distancing and heightened hygiene when 8,000 people are detained in a close space. #COVID19 is extremely contagious and spreads through the air and from contaminated surfaces. When one person tests positive, there will be dozens more within a day or two. If even 20% of the jail population is infected, and that is a conservative

This individual had the means to post a bond. Research shows that when cash is the primary determinant on who gets in and out of jail, it doesn’t make us safer. Decisions should be guided by effectively assessing “risk” and research. With money involved, too many folks that may

https://twitter.com/artacevedo/status/1230124404237127680

not be a high risk, sit in jail, while high risk offenders can pay their way out of jail. This is why we should move to an “intentional system of detention”; we currently do not have that. Nobody wants any defendant to be released pretrial only to further their criminal careers

IMO, we need increased dialogue to address the impacts of a traumatized society. Pause for a moment and reflect on this: the vast majority of us are walking around with some form of trauma. We have lived through events that have traumatized in unimaginable ways. Mass killings, natural disasters, attacks in schools and places of worship. Inner-city violence and the 90,000 children in our county each year that have a patent locked up in our local jail. Certain films now require increased police presence.