Roll of Honor
Randall Lewis Sims
Incident
Sergeant Randall Sims died from complications after contracting COVID-19 during an outbreak among employees and inmates at the Havins Unit in Brownwood, Texas.
Sergeant Sims had served with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for 27 years.
Beginning in early 2020, thousands of law enforcement officers and other first responders throughout the country began to contract COVID-19 during the worldwide pandemic. Due to the nature of their job, law enforcement officers were required to work and interact with the community even as the majority of the country was self-quarantined. As a result, hundreds of officers died from COVID-related illnesses and other complications.
Corrections agencies, in particular, suffered tremendous losses due to the constant and close proximity between the corrections officers and large inmate populations. Since March 2020, ODMP has verified that over 900 law enforcement officers have died as the result of a confirmed or presumed exposure while on duty and continues to work with hundreds of other agencies that have suffered a COVID-related death.
Visit ODMP's COVID-19 memorial listing every officer who has died as a result of a confirmed or presumed exposure.
COVID-19 and Law Enforcement
Sergeant Randall Lewis Sims died on January 3, 2021 of COVID-19 contracted in the line of duty. He was 57.
He is one of 884 officers honored here, and one of 55 at Texas Department of Criminal Justice - Correctional Institutions Division.
Beginning in early 2020, law enforcement officers across the country contracted COVID-19 in the course of their duties. While much of the nation sheltered at home, they kept answering calls, making arrests, transporting prisoners, and working face to face with the public. There was no distance to be had from the job.
Corrections officers were hit hardest. Confined facilities and large populations meant constant, close, unavoidable exposure.
In Our Keeping
- Permanent identifier
BO-US-TX-18588DA7- Stewardship
- Maintained by NeuraWeb Global Inc.
- Added to badge.nw
- August 2, 2026
- Last updated
- September 9, 2026
Honored here by 1 tribute.
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Tributes
The country locked its doors. You kept working.
Sergeant Sims gave the Texas Department of Criminal Justice 27 years.
Thank you for your service to the Huntsville community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Sergeant Sims.
— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993
Agency
Service Record
Incident Details
Sergeant Randall Lewis Sims is one of 1 officers lost to illness connected to their service across the full record of this memorial — 0% of all 97,787 officers honored here.
In TX, 204 of 2,422 officers were lost to illness connected to their service — 8.4% of this state's fallen. That is 8.4 percentage points above the national rate of 0%.
At Texas Department of Criminal Justice - Correctional Institutions Division, 55 of 124 officers on record were lost to illness connected to their service — 44.4% of this agency's fallen.
National Cause Distribution
How Illness compares to all causes of officer death in the memorial record. Randall Lewis Sims's cause is highlighted.
How Randall Lewis Sims Compares
When Illness Deaths Occur
Monthly distribution of Illness deaths across the full memorial record. Randall Lewis Sims is highlighted in Jan.
Incident Location
Where the Name Is Cut
Others Who Wore This Badge
123 officers from Texas Department of Criminal Justice - Correctional Institutions Division are honored on badge.nw. Showing the 16 most recent.
