U.S. jails report surging in-custody deaths: magazine

Photo taken on Feb. 21, 2022 shows the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

NEW YORK, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- New York City's jail on Rikers Island reported more in-custody deaths due to years of unconstitutional abuse, which have generated national outcry and broad agreement that the facility must be shut down, U.S. magazine Slate has reported.

However, at Houston's Harris County Jail, more deaths and arguably even worse conditions than at Rikers have barely registered nationally, the report said.

Between the summer months of 2019 and 2022, the number of officially recorded assaults in the jail has more than doubled and events involving use of force resulting in bodily injury have more than quadrupled.

Today, the Harris County Jail detains more than 10,000 people -- the highest number of people in more than a decade.

More than 80 percent of those inside the jail are detained pretrial. Nearly 80 percent admitted to the jail are recorded as likely to be suffering from a mental illness, according to the jail's data.