Inmates in Texas are reportedly being used to help the El Paso County Medical Examiner’s office handle the influx of bodies as coronavirus cases surge in the area.
Several El Paso County inmates were spotted at the ME’s office on Saturday by a photographer with The Texas Tribune.The inmates were dressed in PPE gear and moving bodies into mobile morgues stationed outside the building.
A spokesman with the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to the Tribune that four to eight inmates are voluntarily helping at the ME’s office — and getting paid $2 an hour to do so.
The inmates, from the county detention facility’s trustee program, began shifts last Monday, the spokesman told the newspaper.