Houston Jail Renews $38 Million Contract to Outsource Detainees to Private Lockups
On March 19, 2026, commissioners in Harris County renewed a $38 million contract to send detainees out of Texas to private facilities controlled by companies like CoreCivic. For years, the Harris County Jail has outsourced detainees in order to free up space; the new contract allows the jail to continue that practice for more than 1,000 detainees until at least 2027, despite the fact that some of the private facilities that accept the detainees face wrongful death lawsuits.
While Harris County ended a contract in 2025 that sent 300 detainees to a lockup in Mississippi, the jail has failed to meet the conditions of a remedial order imposed by the state in 2023 to bring it into compliance with minimum jail standards. [See: PLN, Apr. 2025, p.26.] The order, brought into effect in part due to severe understaffing, prevents several hundred beds from being used until it is lifted. Although the Harris County Jail passed a recent inspection earlier in March, the order remains in place pending further inspections.
The renewed contract came despite the deaths of several detainees dying after being shipped out of the Harris County Jail to for-profit prisons run by LaSalle Corrections in Louisiana. Two wrongful death lawsuits were filed this year in response to Harris County detainees dying under LaSalle’s watch: The first alleges that the death of Erik Carlson, 29, resulted from a LaSalle guard’s ignoring his pleas for medical attention before he succumbed to an infection caused by strep throat; the second claims that detainee Kristopher McGregor, 39, suffered from delusions and could not advocate for himself before dying from sepsis caused by strep throat.
Ahead of the decision, Carlson’s mother spoke out against the contract: “I don’t want a single dollar of my money to go to the people that killed our sons.”
Source: Houston Public Radio
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