MIDLAND COUNTY, Texas — Too many inmates, too little room.
Overcrowding is just one problem the Midland County Jail is facing. The jail can house a maximum of 500 inmates and as of November 12 they held 474.
There's also no hot water for key appliances inside the jail.
The situation was a hot topic at the county commissioners meeting on Tuesday. They are working to take action to correct the hot water issue,
"We've been experiencing this problem for a couple of weeks so we can get that hot water flowing again," said Midland County Sheriff Richard Gillette..
Sanitation is the number one concern for a kitchen without hot water and a top priority as it is what prevents nearly 500 inmates from getting sick, but jail officials say their dishwasher for cleaning trays generates its own heat and uses detergent and chemical to rid germs.
Inmates have also had to boil water to clean dirt off of some of the dishes. It’s extra work, but the kitchen staff is made up of inmates who volunteered to be there.
The work flow should get a break soon, however. Commissioners moved $30,000 from contingency funds to the sheriff’s office at the Tuesday meeting to fix the boiler system and the boilers will hopefully be up in about a week.
As far as the overcrowding problem goes, however, the county only has short-term solutions at this time.
The sheriff has asked the district attorney for a rocket docket, where district courts can go to trial in a short amount of time.
They’ve also been crediting inmates with good behavior to count as extra time served.
Some inmates could be shipped to a jail in El Paso, the closest jail without overcrowding issues according to Gillette.
Whatever direction the county ends up taking, the solution doesn’t appear to be in sight anytime soon.