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Warning: this story contains details of a miscarriage and sexual assault.
A 23-year-old woman had a miscarriage after a detention officer and other prisoners allegedly assaulted her while in the Harris County Jail, according to a newly filed federal lawsuit.
While incarcerated within the Harris County Jail, Mikayla Savage allegedly “endured heinously uninhabitable living conditions,” suffered a miscarriage and attempted suicide multiple times after experiencing at least six separate physical and sexual assaults at the hands of other prisoners and detention officers, according to court documents.
The lawsuit was filed against Harris County, Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, three detention officers — named A. Martinez, A. Roda and Matthews in the lawsuit — along with 30 unnamed detention officers “who failed to intervene or protect her.”
“Officials have entirely disregarded the human suffering within the jail”
According to the lawsuit, Savage was 23 years old and pregnant when she was booked into the Harris County Jail on June 2, 2022 for violating a protective order after allegedly assaulting a family member. For about two weeks, Savage was held in a cell that was “covered with feces, ridden with bed bugs, had blood on the ceiling, and had no air circulation,” even though the jail has a special housing unit for incarcerated pregnant women, according to court records.
About five days after her arrest, Savage was removed from her cell and lined up in a hallway before being brought to court, the lawsuit read. As she stood against the wall, detention officer Roda allegedly told detention officer Martinez to grab Savage. According to the lawsuit, Martinez “yanked” Savage by the collar of her shirt and “swung her around like a rag doll.”
In an attempt to get Martinez to stop, Savage told the detention officer that she was pregnant.
“I do not give a f–k about you or your bastard babies,” Martinez allegedly replied.
Martinez allegedly proceeded to shove Savage into the wall stomach-first, before dragging her to court. Shortly after the alleged assault, Savage began experiencing lower abdominal pain along with cramping, nausea and vomiting, according to court records.
Eventually, after Savage’s mother made numerous calls and complaints to the jail, Savage was moved to a section of the jail’s medical unit for pregnant women on June 16, the lawsuit read. About a day later, after several delays in getting medical attention, Savage finally received an ultrasound, which revealed that her pregnancy was no longer viable. Hospital staff informed her that the miscarriage had occurred within the prior two weeks, according to court records.
“Martinez had assaulted Mikayla within this two-week period,” the lawsuit read.
On June 24, Savage was sent to LBJ Hospital and was ultimately “given an abortion to which she believed that she did not consent and which she found incredibly traumatic,” according to court records.
In the months that followed, Savage was placed back into the jail’s general population and was physically and sexually assaulted on five separate occasions by other prisoners and jail staff, according to the lawsuit. On the night of July 11, Savage was allegedly tied up and sexually assaulted with a foreign object by other prisoners. Two days later, prisoners once again beat Savage “in plain view” of Officer Martinez, who allegedly yanked her off the floor after the assault and dragged her back into her cell, where he allegedly shoved his knee into her back and bit her.
Due to the continuous assaults, the lawsuit says Savage attempted to commit suicide multiple times. In response, medical staff allegedly dismissed Savage’s cries for help and told her to “read the Bible and provided her with no meaningful care for this mental health crisis.”
Shortly after the final assault on August 18, when prisoners allegedly threw urine at Savage while in the view of detention officer Matthews, she was thrown into solitary confinement where she spent the remainder of her incarceration. On August 30, about three months after Savage was arrested, she was released after the Harris County District Attorney’s Office dropped the charge against her.
A spokesperson for the Harris County Sheriff’s Office declined to comment on the lawsuit, but added that an internal investigation “found insufficient evidence to verify the allegations.”
“Investigators conducted multiple interviews, analyzed security video footage, reviewed medical records, conducted DNA testing, and gathered other evidence,” the spokesperson said.
The continued push for accountability
During a press conference on Tuesday, Savage silently wiped away tears as she alongside her attorney, Miriam Nemeth, criticized Harris County officials for “turning a blind eye for far too long.”
“They turn a blind eye to the suffering of mothers, daughters, sisters, brothers, fathers, and other family members and friends while they simply wash the blood from their hands and point their fingers elsewhere,” Nemeth said. “These officials must do better and they must do better now.”
This comes after another federal lawsuit was filed last year accusing the county of creating a “culture of death” inside the Harris County Jail. Last year, at least 19 people died while in custody. This followed a record number of in-custody deaths in 2022, when at least 27 people lost their lives — the highest number in nearly two decades, according to county records and data from the Texas Justice Initiative.
Additionally, the Harris County Jail has violated statewide safety standards for well over a year now as the facility continues to struggle with persistent overcrowding and understaffing.
Read the full lawsuit below: