As COVID-19 deaths overwhelm El Paso, inmates recruited to work in the morgue

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The El Paso mortuary is so overwhelmed by the number of people who have died from COVID-19 that inmates from the county detention center are brought in to help with the overflow of bodies awaiting autopsy.

While the work these inmates do in the community is generally unpaid, Chris Acosta, spokesperson for the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office, said “the administrators refused to work unless they were compensated.” . They earn $ 2 an hour.

Between four and eight inmates in the Detention Facility Administrators Program volunteer daily from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The inmates who do the work are criminal offenders and those who are in minimum custody. Shifts began Monday, Acosta said.

Acosta said she could not speak to the exact nature of inmate work in morgues, but said inmates, a deputy and two detention officers are provided with personal protective equipment and are required to wear it.

Pictures and videos show administrators moving bodies to the eight, soon to be ten, mobile morgues set up in front of the medical examiner’s office.

It’s a temporary mission, Acosta said, as the county awaits the arrival of the National Guard.

The number of hospital patients with coronavirus in far west Texas has almost increased tenfold since the start of September. Earlier this month, the Defense Department sent medical teams to help, and local funeral homes are preparing additional refrigerated storage space.

El Paso County recorded a total of 45 new deaths Thursday and Friday from the virus. About 1,105 people are hospitalized, including 319 in intensive care, according to the latest statistics from the city.

Attempts by city and county authorities to shut down non-essential businesses in an attempt to slow the spread of the virus have rebounded in the courts, causing confusion, Acosta said.

“Many companies have called my office, ‘Am I closing or not closing?’ People are very confused. We are just trying to follow the judge’s decision and follow the law, ”she said.

On Friday night, a state appeals court again blocked the shutdown of non-essential businesses in El Paso County, which was scheduled to last until December 1. 19 here, but a group of local restaurants and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton quickly filed suit to block it.

Asked about precautions taken to ensure the safety of the prison population, given administrators’ exposure to the virus, Acosta said anyone entering a building in the county was screened, which included questions about symptoms and temperature measurement.

Ivan Pierre Aguirre contributed to this report.