Incarcerated Texans enlisted to work in county morgue as COVID-19 deaths overwhelm El Paso

[TexasTowelie]

by Alana Rocha, Texas Tribune


The morgue in El Paso is so overwhelmed by the number of people dying from COVID-19 that inmates from the county’s detention facility are being brought in to assist with the overflow of bodies awaiting autopsy.

While the work these inmates do in the community typically goes unpaid, Chris Acosta, a spokesperson for the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office, said “trustees refused to work unless they were compensated.” They’re making $2 per hour.

Between four and eight inmates from the detention facility’s trustee program are volunteering daily from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The inmates doing the work are misdemeanor offenders and those in minimum custody. The shifts started Monday, Acosta said.

Acosta said she couldn’t speak to the exact nature of the work the inmates are doing at the morgues, but she said that the inmates, one deputy and two detention officers are given personal protective equipment and are required to wear it.

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2020/11/15/coronavirus-texas-el-paso-inmates-morgue-deaths/

[FirstLight]

1. yikes...that shoul efinitely be worth more than $2/hour IMO

...wonder what the transmission rate is between the dead an living? I assume they are still carrying quite a viral load