The complex, operated by the Harris County Sheriff's Office (HCSO), lies in the peninsula formed by the Buffalo Bayou in northern Downtown.

[1] In 2007 there was a proposal to construct a jail facility with a bond worth $245 million, but voters rejected it.

[2] In 2021 prisoners reported problems with the plumbing system and lack of heat during the 2021 Texas power crisis.

[5] Lucio Vasquez of Houston Public Media stated that Texas Senate Bill 6, which ended many forms of cashless bail, may be contributing to overcrowding and deaths.

[9] As of 2024[update] the Harris County jail facilities together have a capacity for 9,575 inmates; at time they have held over 12,000.

[10] The jail population increased since the Texas Legislature cut its community mental health services funding by $400 million in 2003.

[12] The 701 Jail (located at 701 North San Jacinto Street) is one of the largest detention facilities in the United States.

The 701 Jail, originally a five-story building to be used as a cold storage warehouse,[15] opened in the late 1920s.

The cold storage portion was allowed to thaw, and construction on the facility began in December of that year.

[12] Currently the HCSO's Crime Scene Unit, Emergency Dispatch Center(EDC), Warrants and A.F.I.S is housed in the building.

The jail officers discontinued wearing cowboy boots, television and radio repair was deemed obsolete, and the county authorities began purchasing furniture instead of reupholstering existing pieces; these actions resulted in the end of leathercraft, radio and television repair, and upholstery programs.

Police overtime arrests and drug case sentencing practices were highlighted as significant contributors to the population increase.

[25] A Criminal Justice Coordinating Council was created in 2009 with goals including the reduction of the jail population.

[26] Harris County spends $50 million of taxpayer funds annually on the outsourcing of people held in the jail.

[27] In September 2024, Harris County announced that it would begin outsourcing people in its custody to Natchitoches Parish Detention Center, located more than 200 miles away in Louisiana.

Harris County spends millions to house inmates in private, out-of-state prisons, raising concerns about oversight and accountability.

Facilities like LaSalle and CoreCivic's Tallahatchie have faced allegations of neglect, abuse, and substandard care.

Advocates call for reducing the jail population by dismissing low-level nonviolent cases, but the district attorney has resisted.

Harris County Jail has a long history of guards assaulting prisoners brutally to death, failure in protecting prisoners from assaults, solitary confinement as punishment, allowing suicides attempts of vulnerable detainees, and medically neglecting pregnant women.

Mikayla Savage, a 23-year-old woman had a miscarriage after a detention officer and other prisoners had allegedly assaulted her while in the Harris County Jail.

An earlier internal investigation into Simmons's death by the Harris County Sheriff's Office led to 11 firings, 6 suspensions, and one corrections worker charged for manslaughter.