Accountability.
Two former Texas Department of Criminal Justice correctional officers were arrested on June 18, 2026, following an investigation involving two female inmates at Hospital Galveston, according to TDCJ.
TDCJ identified the former officers as Kenneth McDaniel Jr. and Kamron Kirk. Both were taken into custody on charges described by the agency as civil-rights violations involving improper sexual activity with a person in custody, a second-degree felony. They were booked into the Galveston County Jail.
The arrests followed an investigation by the TDCJ Office of Inspector General. The agency said the investigation began after a female inmate reported that two correctional officers had sexually assaulted her while she was housed at the medical facility. TDCJ said McDaniel and Kirk were terminated after a separate administrative investigation concluded.
The allegations and criminal charges have not been proven in court. The defendants are presumed innocent unless and until they are convicted.
Earlier allegations and agency response
In April, TDCJ confirmed that two officers had been relieved of duty while the agency and its inspector general investigated allegations involving female inmates at Hospital Galveston. The June announcement supplied the names of the two former employees and confirmed their arrests.
TDCJ Executive Director Bobby Lumpkin said the department would not tolerate employees using positions of authority to abuse people in their care. The agency also said male officers are not supposed to be alone with an individual female inmate and that staff may not conduct cross-gender unclothed searches.
Hospital Galveston is a TDCJ medical facility operated in coordination with the University of Texas Medical Branch. It provides inpatient, acute and specialty medical care for incarcerated people of different custody levels.