Ben Crump speaks at a information convention in April in New York City. On Monday, the civil rights legal professional referred to as on the Justice Department to launch an investigation into inmate deaths on the Harris County Jail in Houston.

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Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Ben Crump speaks at a information convention in April in New York City. On Monday, the civil rights legal professional referred to as on the Justice Department to launch an investigation into inmate deaths on the Harris County Jail in Houston.

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

The FBI is launching federal civil rights investigations into the Harris County Jail in Houston following the deaths of dozens of inmates there up to now few years.

“These investigations will be fair, thorough, and impartial, and will proceed independently of any state investigations involving incidents at the jail,” the FBI Houston tweeted in a press release on Monday. “To preserve the integrity and capabilities of the investigations, no details of the ongoing process will be publicly shared.”

The transfer from the FBI comes after weeks of public requires a proof into why dozens of inmates have died whereas being held on the jail. At least 21 inmates died whereas in custody on the Texas jail in 2021, according to county records. Another 28 inmates died final 12 months, and one other 4 have died within the first couple months of 2023, based on attorneys Ben Crump and Paul Grinke, who are representing some of the victims’ family members.

The FBI stated will probably be investigating the loss of life of two inmates: Jaquaree Simmons, who died in February 2021, and Jacoby Pillow, who died in January 2023.

“I look forward to learning the FBI’s findings, because we must all know the full truth if we are to improve our operation and make the jail as safe as possible for everyone entrusted into our care,” Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez stated in a statement.

Jail workers dedicated “multiple policy violations” within the occasions that led to Simmons’ loss of life, based on an inside investigation from the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, which resulted in the firing of 11 employees, and suspension of six others, based on the assertion. A detention officer was charged with manslaughter.

Pillow, who was within the strategy of being launched on bail, was discovered unresponsive in his jail cell and later taken to a hospital, the place he was pronounced lifeless. The Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences has not launched an official reason for loss of life for Pillow, whose loss of life can be being investigated by the Houston Police Department.

Another inmate, Kevin Smith Jr., and his uncle, each died whereas in custody on the jail, based on the attorneys.

The FBI’s investigation additionally comes days after members of the family of Pillow and Smith, together with Crump and Grinke, requested the Justice Department for an investigation.

“It is appalling that you would have 32 detainees die in the Harris County jail in a 14-month period,” Crump stated at a news conference in Houston on Monday. “I mean, nobody really would believe it unless you had these bodies that showed you it was really happening.”