Family demands answers in inmate’s death at county jail

Jaquaree Simmons called his mother almost every day from his jail cell, crying and begging for help getting released.

The 23-year-old’s freedom from the lockup only came in death. Authorities found him unconscious in the cell, just one week after he was booked and a day after he and a jail employee were involved in an altercation that authorities said ended with Simmons hitting the floor.

“All I can do is scream,” mother Larhonda Biggles said, describing the moment doctors told her the news. “What went through my head is, ‘What the hell did they do to my child?’”

The Harris County Sheriff’s Office, which operates the downtown jail, reported the death on Feb. 17. A detention officer struck Simmons at 6:45 p.m. the night before, apparently in self-defense, jail officials said.

Simmons was taken to the jail’s medical clinic, evaluated and determined to be healthy enough to return to his cell. He’s small, his family said, at 5-feet-3inches and 125 pounds.

Authorities discovered him the next morning, and Simmons was pronounced dead at the hospital at 1:27 p.m.

The cause and manner of his death are still pending, and an autopsy is expected to determine whether the altercation played a role, sheriff’s office spokesman Jason Spencer said. The Houston Police Department is conducting an investigation,

the results of which will be sent to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office for review as part of standard protocol. HPD officials declined to comment.

TheSheriff ’s Office Internal Affairs Division is also investigating to confirm whether department policies were followed. Two detention officers are being placed in administrative positions where they will have “no contact with people housed in the jail” until the outcome of the investigations.

“We hold every human life as sacred and we are committed to fully cooperating with the independent investigations into the death of Mr. Simmons,” Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said. “My personal condolences go out to Mr. Simmons’ family and loved ones.”

A week later, Simmons’ family members say they mostly remain in the dark. Community activist Quanell X is involved in efforts to raise awareness of the death and is asking to see footage of the altercation.

“What we’re demanding are some real answers,” he said. “We want to see the video.”

Spencer said no video exists.

Biggles first heard about

what happened to her son around 6 p.m. on Feb. 17, she said. Power outages from the winter storm had disconnected her from technology, and she received a call after going to the car to charge her phone, Biggles said.

Her first thought was that an inmate might have gotten to her son, but she knew he had a one-man cell. Simmons called his mother almost every day he was in jail, telling her he was “losing his mind in there,” she said.

A family member eventually went to the hospital to identify Simmons’ body, but Biggles said they never got access, possibly because the death was being investigated by police.

“We still haven’t seen Jaquaree,” Biggles said.

Simmons had multiple prior encounters with police, but he spoke often about hoping to turn his life around, his mother said.

He had two brothers and six sisters – he was the youngest boy – and he was known to be the family unifier.

“He always tried to make sure the family stayed together,” Biggles said. “He was always the one that wanted to try to pick us up.”

Simmons was a loving and respectful person who especially loved to dance. But he also struggled with some mental health issues, according to his mother.

“He was trying to find himself,” she said. “It was hard for him I know, because there were many days he cried randomly. He’d say, ‘I’m tired of going back and forth to jail for stupid stuff, but sometimes I don’t feel like I have a choice.’”

At the time of his death, Simmons was being held in jail without bond on a charge of felon in possession of a weapon. Authorities saw an Instagram “story” where he allegedly held a handgun that Houston police later identified as being stolen, according to charging documents.

Officers were able to make out a serial number on the gun in the video and matched it to the stolen weapon, they said.

When Simmons was arrested, he had been on bond on charges of assault/ family violence/impeding breath; robbery/bodily injury; and theft under $2,500 with two or more previous convictions, all felonies. He was also released on bond for failure to identify as a fugitive, and assault/ bodily injury, both misdemeanors.

Simmons, a documented Backstreet Bread Winner gang member, was convicted in 2019 of felony theft, court records show.