An inmate in Houston’s Harris County jail diagnosed mental health issues was confined to a cell overrun with feces, insects and trash for at least one week last October, the Houston Chronicle reports. The case was reported to the sheriff only a few weeks ago. Photos show Terry Goodwin, now 24, living last year amid bug-infested Styrofoam food containers, what appear to be bags of garbage and ropes of uniform threads dangling from the ceiling that he could have used to hang himself.
The Goodwin case is the latest in a series of long-running problems for the expansive Harris County jail complex over the past decade. On Monday, state jail inspectors made an unannounced visit. Their director, Brandon Wood, said the agency will classify the complex as “at risk” based on the “extenuating circumstances” of the Goodwin case and until the sheriff’s internal investigation is complete. “This is an incident that should have never happened,” said sheriff’s spokeswoman Christina Garza. “There is no excuse for this to have happened. We truly believe that this is an isolated incident.”