A man who was scheduled for release from the Harris County Jail on Tuesday died after being tased by an officer as he was being escorted out of the facility.
Alexis Jovany Cardenas, 32, had been in jail since Sunday, July 6, when the Houston Police Department arrested him on municipal charges. Officials with the Harris County Sheriff’s Department said Cardenas engaged in a physical altercation with detention officers who were attempting to escort him out of the jail.
Because Cardenas was released from custody at 12:50 a.m. and was pronounced dead at St. Joseph Hospital at 1:57 a.m., the department is not referring to the matter as an “in-custody death.” Ten incarcerated persons have died at the county jail so far this year, including three within a 48-hour period last month.
“[Cardenas] was being escorted to an exit door when he physically resisted detention officers as they attempted to walk him outside the building,” sheriff’s department officials said in a press release. “One detention officer deployed his Taser in an effort to gain control of Cardenas, but it was not immediately effective. At one point, Cardenas briefly forced his way back into the secure area of the jail where inmates were being processed for release.”
Multiple officers eventually “gained control over Cardenas,” the press release states.
“Once control was established, they noticed that Cardenas was unresponsive,” according to the release. “A detention officer then administered CPR while jail medical staff responded to the area to administer aid. Cardenas was then taken to St. Joseph Hospital, where he was pronounced deceased at 1:57 a.m.”
The Texas Rangers are investigating the incident, and an autopsy will be performed by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences to determine Cardenas’ cause of death. The Sheriff’s Office Internal Affairs department is also investigating to determine whether all relevant policies were followed, officials said, noting that they would publicly release video footage within 45 days, per department policy.
Krish Gundu, cofounder and executive director of the Texas Jail Project, questioned the assertion that the incident occurred outside a secure area in a public space and therefore didn’t have to be reported as an in-custody death.
“If he was outside the exit door, then there was no need to deploy a Taser,” she said. “If he was released then why were they trying to get control of him when he was resisting? If he was free they didn’t need to do anything and he wouldn’t need to resist. And they didn’t need to deploy a Taser.”
Gundu also questioned why the man was being held on municipal charges. The Harris County Jail has been out of compliance since 2022, according to the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, facing widespread criticism over its staffing shortage and ability to provide medical care in a timely manner.
Harris County Sheriff’s Department Senior Policy and Communications Advisor Jason Spencer said Wednesday his office informed the jail commission of the death.
“You will need to ask them whether this is considered a death in jail custody, since Cardenas had been released and was no longer inside the secured jail,” he said in an email.
The Texas Commission on Jail Standards did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2025.
