Two people in Harris County custody have died this month, according to officials, including one who was being held in a privately run jail across state lines in Louisiana. The back-to-back deaths, one at the county jail and one after an out-of-state transfer, are again raising questions about oversight and medical care for people Harris County sends far from home.
The county identified the men as Tevin McClendon, who died at the LaSalle Correctional Center in Olla, Louisiana after being outsourced by Harris County, and Tanner Goldade, who suffered an apparent medical emergency inside the Harris County Jail. McClendon was booked into the county jail in September 2025 and was transferred to LaSalle in March. He reportedly requested medical attention on April 17 and was pronounced dead shortly before 3:30 p.m., according to the sheriff’s office. The office said McClendon’s death is under investigation by its Internal Affairs and Criminal Investigation and Security divisions, as reported by Houston Public Media.
The sheriff’s office said these were the first in-custody deaths it has reported since January. They follow a year in which 20 people died while in Harris County custody in 2025. The county’s ongoing reliance on out-of-state beds, including at LaSalle where multiple Harris County inmates have died, and the broader death toll were detailed by the Houston Chronicle.
What officials say
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that it notified the appropriate investigative units after each death and that both cases remain under review. The office also told reporters that an inspection earlier this year found the jail in compliance with Texas minimum jail standards. Officials have not yet released cause-of-death findings; autopsy and medical examiner reports will be part of the official record, according to Houston Public Media.
Outsourcing and lawsuits
To ease crowding in recent years, Harris County has turned to private, out-of-state facilities. Critics argue that this practice makes it harder for families to visit, complicates attorney access, and reduces transparency about what happens inside those jails.
The LaSalle Correctional Center has drawn particular scrutiny after several Harris County inmates died there. Lawsuits tied to those deaths have intensified debate over whether the county should keep sending people to that lockup at all. The history of those deaths and related legal battles has been chronicled by the Houston Chronicle.
Legal implications
Housing Harris County inmates out of state complicates reporting and accountability, in part because those facilities are not always covered by Texas in-state reporting rules. State lawmakers have proposed legislation aimed at tightening those requirements, The Texas Tribune reports.
The Texas Commission on Jail Standards says counties are required to comply with minimum jail standards and that the agency conducts inspections. But enforcement and oversight can become more tangled when inmates are held in privately run facilities outside Texas. Those jurisdictional questions sit at the center of ongoing legal and policy debates, according to the Texas Commission on Jail Standards.
