EDINBURG — The Hidalgo County jail was completed in 2003 and just 10 weeks after it opened nearly 20 years ago, it was already at capacity and inmates had to be housed at other facilities outside the county.
Our three-part series examines the history of overcrowding, and how little has changed since.
A inmate mops the floor in the hallways of the Hidalgo County Adult Detention Center on Friday, Nov. 4, 2022, in Edinburg. (Joel Martinez | [email protected])RN Rudy Gonzalez watches over an inmate as he breathes into a nebulizer while being treated in the infirmary at the Hidalgo County Adult Detention Center on Friday, Nov. 4, 2022, in Edinburg. (Joel Martinez | [email protected])An inmate cuts the hair of an other in an open area at the Hidalgo County Adult Detention Center on Friday, Nov. 4, 2022, in Edinburg. (Joel Martinez | [email protected])Inmates hand out clean clothes to inmates in their cells at the Hidalgo County Adult Detention Center on Friday, Nov. 4, 2022, in Edinburg. (Joel Martinez | [email protected])An inmate watches television in a cell at the Hidalgo County Adult Detention Center on Friday, Nov. 4, 2022, in Edinburg. (Joel Martinez | [email protected])An inmate walks in a small holding cell in booking at the Hidalgo County Adult Detention Center on Friday, Nov. 4, 2022, in Edinburg. (Joel Martinez | [email protected])Inmates move containers with hot meals for fellow inmates at the Hidalgo County Adult Detention Center on Friday, Nov. 4, 2022, in Edinburg. (Joel Martinez | [email protected])A detention officer in booking sits behind glass at the Hidalgo County Adult Detention Center on Friday, Nov. 4, 2022, in Edinburg. (Joel Martinez | [email protected])Inmates are feed in their cell s at the Hidalgo County Adult Detention Center on Friday, Nov. 4, 2022, in Edinburg. (Joel Martinez | [email protected])Inmates are moved in the hallways of the Hidalgo County Adult Detention Center on Friday, Nov. 4, 2022, in Edinburg. (Joel Martinez | [email protected])Inmates work in the kitchen at the Hidalgo County Adult Detention Center on Friday, Nov. 4, 2022, in Edinburg. (Joel Martinez | [email protected])Hidalgo County correction officer Oneida Salinas talks with an inmate through a small window in a cell block at the Hidalgo County Adult Detention Center on Friday, Nov. 4, 2022, in Edinburg. (Joel Martinez | [email protected])Inmates play cards in the open area of jail cell at the Hidalgo County Adult Detention Center on Friday, Nov. 4, 2022, in Edinburg. (Joel Martinez | [email protected])Hidalgo County correction officer Oneida Salinas walk down the hallways at the Hidalgo County Adult Detention Center on Friday, Nov. 4, 2022, in Edinburg. (Joel Martinez | [email protected])Inmates talk to their visitors at Hidalgo County Adult Detention Center on Friday, Nov. 4, 2022, in Edinburg. (Joel Martinez | [email protected])An inmate works in the kitchen at the Hidalgo County Adult Detention Center on Friday, Nov. 4, 2022, in Edinburg. (Joel Martinez | [email protected])An inmate leaves the infirmity at the Hidalgo County Adult Detention Center on Friday, Nov. 4, 2022, in Edinburg. (Joel Martinez | [email protected])Hidalgo County Adult Detention Center on Friday, Nov. 4, 2022, in Edinburg. (Joel Martinez | [email protected])Inmates have their hair cut in an open area at the Hidalgo County Adult Detention Center on Friday, Nov. 4, 2022, in Edinburg. (Joel Martinez | [email protected])Hidalgo County corrections officer work in the comicery at the Hidalgo County Adult Detention Center on Friday, Nov. 4, 2022, in Edinburg. (Joel Martinez | [email protected])Steam rises from pots as inmate prepare food for the day to be served to inmates and workers at the Hidalgo County Adult Detention Center on Friday, Nov. 4, 2022, in Edinburg. (Joel Martinez | [email protected])Inmates eat during a break from working in the kitchen at the Hidalgo County Adult Detention Center on Friday, Nov. 4, 2022, in Edinburg. (Joel Martinez | [email protected])
