Houston prison officials made a mistake in the state report after the death of a prisoner

The Harris County Sheriff’s Office and Harris Health provided the state with a plan of action after the Texas Prison Standards Board found flaws in the way inmates were treated at the downtown Houston jail.

An excerpt from a December 2022 letter and earlier report on shortcomings at the Harris County Jail as cited by the Texas Prison Standards Commission. (KPRK-TV)

Matthew Shelton, 28, checked into jail in March 2022 to settle an out-of-county drunk driving order.

He was declared dead five days later on March 27, 2022.

The Harris County Medical Examiner ruled that Shelton died of diabetic ketoacidosisfatal result, lack of necessary drugs.

Shelton was diabetic and required both insulin and blood pressure medication, according to his family.

Shelton entered the prison with his own medicines, but was stripped of those items by standard procedure.

He was supposed to get the medicine given by the county, but he didn’t, and his health quickly deteriorated, so he called his family.

“[We] immediately started calling the Harris County Jail, couldn’t reach anyone,” said Kevin Borchgrevink, Shelton’s son-in-law.

Harris County response

The Harris County Sheriff’s Office did not provide the KPRC 2 investigation with a statement on the matter on Friday, but did forward the action plan they provided to the State of Texas.

Some of these procedural changes are highlighted below.

Front page of Harris County’s response to the Prison Standards Board’s request for a corrective action plan. (KPRK-TV)

Copyright 2023 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.

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texasstandard.news contributed to this report.

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