Sometimes you post a story just because it’s weird. This is one of those times.
Remember how we reported that Harris County jails had already killed ten inmates this year? Well, you can add another one. Maybe.
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office released a 17-minute surveillance video depicting the chaotic and fatal altercation involving 32-year-old inmate Alexis Cardenas during the booking-out process from the Harris County Jail….[Viewer discretion warning snipped.]
The footage—mostly from jail security cameras with no audio—shows officers opening a door to release Cardenas, who appears reluctant to leave. When officers place hands on him, Cardenas backs away with his hands up before being forcefully pushed toward the exit.
I would embed the video here, but it’s age-restricted. So I’ll include a few screen caps.
During the escalating struggle, his shirt, pants, and shoes come off—some tossed out the door—and he repeatedly tries to re-enter the secure area.
As an officer opens the internal security door, Cardenas darts toward it, prompting a physical confrontation. Cardenas grabs an officer’s leg, bringing them both to the ground. An attempted taser deployment appears ineffective, and Cardenas manages to break free, running through the security door into the inmate area.
Another inmate shoves Cardenas into an officer, who responds with a knee to the chest.
From that point forward, multiple officers pin Cardenas to the ground, face-down. At least one hand is cuffed, and at one point, his cuffed hand strikes an officer during the scuffle. Eventually, officers notice Cardenas has gone unresponsive. CPR is initiated but unsuccessful. He was later pronounced dead at St. Joseph Medical Center.
His cause of death remains pending with the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences.
The Texas Rangers, Harris County DA’s Office, and Sheriff’s Office are all investigating. The Texas Commission on Jail Standards has not yet ruled whether this constitutes an in-custody death, which would mark the 12th this year.
There are numerous odd things about this incident, the first and foremost one being that most people want to be released from jail, and don’t try to prolong their stay. 75% of the blame for this incident is on the perp that violently resisted officers for unclear reasons. (I know Houston summer heat and humidity is brutal…) Normally I’d wonder if he was high as a kite, but that seems unlikely for someone leaving jail rather than entering it.
But a good 25% is the jailers apparently not being trained well enough to be able to control an inmate without holding the guy down to the point he stops breathing. Especially post-George Floyd.
At the very least, better training seems in order.
Tags: Alexis Jovany Cardena, Crime, Harris County, Texas
“Normally I’d wonder if he was high as a kite, but that seems unlikely…”
It’s just as easy to get drugs in some jails as in the street.
“But a good 25% is the jailers apparently not being trained well enough to be able to control an inmate without holding the guy down to the point he stops breathing.”
If I had to guess, he might be on some cartel death list knowing bullets are waiting for him not long after he exits that door. That greasy spaz probably weighed 300lbs. I’m not sure that any reasonable person could expect more from 3 guards and a tazer being unable to control a raging psycho. What more do people expect from those jailers? I’d kill for audio. What a strange time to be alive.
[…] FROM THE BLUE ZONES: Harris County Jail: You’re Free To Go. Inmate: You Can’t Make Me Leave. Jailers: Watch Us. Fatal… “Remember how we reported that Harris County jails had already killed ten inmates this year? […]
Pcp, maybe. I dont think getting drugs in jail is such a problem. I once saw someone struggling w cops high
on pcp. They subdued him and he died. His internal temp at the hospital was 107°. Same frantic struggle with three cops on him.
Ahh yes. Everyone who has never had to subdue a violent, large man have tons of ways THEY would have handled these situations.
Could be that he was an illegal, and thought ICE would be picking him up for deportation when he was released.
“It’s just as easy to get drugs in some jails as in the street.”
Sure, but smoking them all up just before release seems pretty stupid, even for a criminal. Unless he knew that freebasing enough meth to kill a dozen people and trying to fight the warden to stayvin jail was his best chance to survive, probably because he squealed about something in prison and his cartel could tell it was something only he would know.
HC releases prisoners at midnight– so it was 2 hrs before he was taken to a hospital. This went wrong from the get go: he was assaulting officers, why wasnt he re-arrested for that ? He was either on drugs, psychotic, or feared a cartel hit right outside the doors. There was plenty of “conversation” it appears, was he telling them why he didnt want to go out? Why were none of these 20-30 officers who were in and out concerned with that? ALL of them looked incompetent and poorly trained at about 8-10 min there were at least 20 officers in the room – I believe he was dead at that point. CPR was a CYA. If nothing comes of this … may God have mercy on their souls.
The cops had terrible training in control techniques and were woefully out of shape to handle this guy. They couldnt lock the door back to the vestibule either? If they’d had locked him out eventually he would have calmed down and had to leave
Back in the day, many of my clients told me that one positive aspect of incarceration was that they would never run dry of drugs.
Regardless of his death or whether the guards were incompetent or have a justifiable excuse – which I believe they do – it’s clear to me very little of value was lost.