The Great Library Heist of 2000, Part Three: Prison and After

This is the final installment of a three-part series for Gulf Coast Reads, HCPL’s shared reading program. This year’s selection, The Librarians by Sherry Thomas, is a cozy mystery set in an Austin library, making this the perfect time to revisit our own real-life library mystery.

Read: The Great Library Heist of 2000, Part One

Read: The Great Library Heist of 2000, Part Two: The Investigation

I had high hopes as I wrote this series. I enjoyed the research, and, well, who doesn’t love a mystery? But a few weeks into it, I knew I needed to talk to the person at the center of it.  I had to hear from the man who could answer all my questions and fill me in on the details that the research failed to turn up.   Ultimately, I felt I owed it to Steven Ray Jackson to hear his side of the story.   

I got Mr. Jackson’s basic information from the court documents in my Freedom of Information requests, but I quickly hit a brick wall.  I knew he was released from prison in April of 2007, and that's where the trail ended.  With no other options, I finally broke down and spent my own money to join one of those “people finder/background check” websites.  I was skeptical, but within minutes I had some leads.  But I also had the first indication that Mr. Jackson might no longer be with us.  However, the obituary I found was very generic; I hoped it was for a different Steven R. Jackson. 

I decided to focus on what I DID know 

Harris County Public Library offers free Research by Mail service. Anyone can write their reference questions in a letter, mail it to us, and staff will write back with answers. HCPL is one of only a few libraries in the country that offer the service. For obvious reasons, incarcerated individuals in the State of Texas use it most.   

When I worked at the Barbara Bush Branch, one of my duties was to answer one letter a week. The questions we received (correspondents were limited to five questions per letter) ranged from routine to obscure to outright strange. But the letters served as a reminder that it’s easy to take access to information and library professionals who help us find it for granted—until that access is gone. 

I started my research on the criminal history of Steven Ray Jackson with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.  As I mentioned earlier in this blog, Mr. Jackson was on parole when he was apprehended for stealing library books.  After further research, I learned that he had, in fact, first gone to prison at age 20 in 1987 for Burglary (Habitual with Theft). 

A smart kid at Lamar High School 

I was nervous, but I couldn't put it off any longer.  I picked up the phone and began cold calling numbers in the background report.  Most were disconnected, but after a few awkward introductions and long explanations of why I was calling and what I was doing, I broke through.  I found myself speaking with people who had actually known Steven.   

Steven grew up in a single-parent home. His mom worked in the oil and gas industry when jobs were available, to provide for Steven and his siblings. It is safe to say that the family experienced financial hardships, but for a while, he was finding his place in the world 

Steven was smart. At Lamar High School, he did well academically and participated in the school’s ROTC program. But somewhere along the way, he started getting into trouble

Lamar High School has a complicated history because of where it sits and who it serves.  Located on the edge of River Oaks, the school was built to serve that affluent community, but zoning changes also brought students from working-class and lower-income parts of the city.  Today, nearly half of Lamar’s students come from low-income households, while the surrounding area is among the city's wealthiest.  

One person I talked to believed that the stark economic disparities he saw at Lamar were the catalyst for his change in behavior.  

Whatever the reason, Steven got into trouble at Lamar, which eventually led to his transfer to Booker T. Washington High School.  The new surroundings did not solve the problem, and by the age of twenty, Steven Ray Jackson had begun cycling in and out of prison, a pattern that would persist for many years. 

Prison and After 

On August 30th, 2000, Steven Ray Jackson was formally arrested and processed by the Harris County Precinct 4 Constable's Office on 3rd-degree felony theft charges.  Although I had every court document I was able to obtain and the timeline of these events, there is no way of knowing what (if any) conversations were being had by the County District Attorney’s office, but since he was on parole and had already been in prison, it's unlikely there were many options to weigh.   At age 33, shortly after being formally processed, Jackson pled guilty in the 337th District Court of Harris County to Felony Theft ($20,000–$100,000) and was sentenced to five years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ). 

Jackson would serve the full five years on the new charge, plus additional time for violating parole on a previous burglary conviction, before he was released in April 2007. 

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) 10-Year Follow-Up Study, 4 out of 5 people with criminal records like Jackson’s wind up back in prison. Steven Ray Jackson did not. At 40, he made a conscious decision and put in the work to turn his life around, beating the odds. He secured stable employment, found love, reconnected with family, and became a productive member of the community. 

Recidivism, JPD and the Harris County Library 

At the Harris County Public Library, dedicated staff work with young people in the criminal justice system. We don’t often highlight these programs on our website or social media mainly due to privacy restrictions. But since 2016, HCPL’s Juvenile Probation Outreach Team has regularly visited local detention facilities to deliver library programming and provide curated book checkouts. These collections include relatable "mirror books" as well as essential reference materials covering life skills, GED preparation, mental health, and career paths.  Our partnership with Harris County Juvenile Probation aims to help the young people we work with to break the cycle of recidivism.  We know how difficult it is, which makes Steven Ray Jackson’s post-prison life all the more impressive. 

Sadly, in talking with people who knew Mr. Jackson, his death was confirmed. 

Justice for Steven Ray Jackson 

In an eerie coincidence, on June 24, 2026, just a few days before I stumbled across the newspaper article from 26 years earlier about some books stolen from my library, the Harris County District Attorney's Office published a post headed “Justice for Steven Jackson and his girlfriend.” In it, the DA’s Office details the circumstances surrounding the murder. After returning to his apartment from walking his dog, three men kicked in his door and fired 45 rounds into and around the apartment, killing Jackson and wounding a girlfriend. 

All three assailants were convicted. One was sentenced to life in prison, and another to 30 years. The third man is awaiting sentencing at the time of this writing. 

What makes Steven Ray Jackson’s death all the more tragic is that it was a case of mistaken identity.  Investigators proved that he had absolutely no connection to the men who murdered him.  He was just tragically in the wrong place at the wrong time. 

We succeed only when the community we serve succeeds 

I regret that I never had a chance to talk with Steven Ray Jackson. I can easily imagine reconciliation and even partnering with him to draw on his life experiences to help others in the community struggling to put their lives back together. Libraries are built around second chances for the people we serve, no matter how they come to us.  I think we can all draw inspiration from his story. He gave himself a second chance and rebuilt his life. 

The Harris County Public Library works hard to help people who have found themselves on the wrong side of the law.  From the library’s Research by Mail and Juvenile Probation programs to our many job skills and continuing education classes, these programs are integral to what we do. Our mission is to enrich lives to strengthen communities, and what better way to do that than to help those most in need.  

While researching this article, I talked with former and current library staff.   I spoke with people in the District Attorney's Office, the District Clerk's Office, and the Constable's Office, as well as people who knew and loved Steven Ray Jackson.  I never would have known any of them had I not come across the article about the library heist. Throughout the journey, I was—and am--amazed by the compassion people can have for their fellow human beings and their love for institutions like the public library. That buoys my spirits.  We can't solve every problem in the community, but as individuals and as an institution, we can keep making positive impacts.  We remember that not everybody has the same privileges, and that our time and life are precious.  I'm grateful to have stumbled across this story.  It reminds me that I'm part of a community.  

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