Jaleen Anderson
Jaleen Anderson, 29, was a Houston father of five or six children. His mother, Sarah Knight, describes him as a poet, a boxer and a great father, and says he had no major medical issues before he went into custody. Harris County sent him to LaSalle Correctional Center, a privately operated facility in Olla, Louisiana, where he died on April 3, 2024, after what officials described as an apparent medical emergency with seizures. An autopsy attributed his death to a seizure disorder combined with cardiovascular disease, and his family's lawsuit alleges he had seizures for more than a day, that guards repeatedly called a code blue, and that nurses did not send him to a hospital. Harris County and Sheriff Ed Gonzalez have asked to be removed from the lawsuit, saying they are not responsible for his care, and the Harris County Sheriff's Office has completed an investigation whose findings have not been released.
Cause of death, as reported: Died of illness (disputed; neglect alleged). An autopsy attributed his death to a seizure disorder combined with cardiovascular disease, while his family's lawsuit says staff denied him medical care and ignored guards' calls for help.
Reported by: Harris County Sheriff's Office (the agency that held him); Louisiana autopsy report (medical examiner or coroner); his family and their attorneys in the federal lawsuit.
Lawsuit: His family sued Harris County, Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, and LaSalle Corrections over his death, and the lawsuit is pending with no amount reported.
News reports (9)
- Harris County inmate dies after being transferred to private prison in Louisiana
- Man dies after Harris County jail transfer
- ‘The guards wouldn’t do anything:’ Houston families outraged over death of loved ones in jail | Here & Now
- Despite Texas defendant’s death in Louisiana prison, lawmakers unlikely to end reliance on out-of-state lockups
- Harris County, Sheriff Ed Gonzalez sued by family of outsourced jail inmate who died in Louisiana facility
- Civil Complaint Filed for In-Custody Death of Jaleen Anderson
- Attorneys for Harris County and its sheriff argue they weren’t responsible for outsourced jail inmate’s death
- Arrested in Texas, dead in Louisiana: Private-prison transfers raise accountability concerns
- Prisoners Sent Out Of State, Left Out Of The Count