A former Montgomery County jail detention officer has been fired and criminally charged after authorities say he assaulted a 25-year-old inmate inside the Conroe facility. Miguel Cortez-Gonzales, 27, was taken into custody on August 7 and now faces a third-degree felony charge of violating the civil rights of a person in custody.
According to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, the assault took place on July 24 at the Montgomery County Jail, where Cortez-Gonzales had worked as a detention officer for 14 months. The inmate suffered minor injuries and received medical treatment, and officials say he is expected to recover. The sheriff’s office has declined to identify the inmate to protect his privacy.
Cortez-Gonzales was placed on suspension the same day the incident was reported, as the department opened an internal administrative review. That inquiry ran alongside a criminal investigation carried out by detectives with the MCSO Major Crimes Unit, the same unit noted in the department’s own account of the case. His employment with the sheriff’s office officially ended on August 7, the day detectives arrested him.
Felony Charge Carries Years in Prison
Violation of the civil rights of a person in custody is a third-degree felony under Texas law. Per Texas Penal Code ยง 39.04, the statute applies when a correctional employee intentionally denies an inmate’s rights or subjects them to mistreatment, and a conviction carries a punishment range of two to 10 years in state prison along with a fine of up to $10,000. The same statute, under subsection (d), also gives the Texas Attorney General concurrent jurisdiction with local agencies to investigate serious allegations of custodial misconduct, though it is not clear from available information whether the state has taken any role in this particular case…