CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — "My husband said 'Call the news, because they’re not giving us anything,' " said Jennifer Aguirre to KRIS 6 News. "They’re refusing to give us blankets, they’re refusing to give us mats. And we already asked them so many times for masks and they said they weren’t gonna give us anything."
Aguirre said inmates are not being treated fairly in the Nueces Co. McKinzie Annex Jail, where 87 of the 90 inmates at the jail have been diagnosed with COVID-19, and she's not the only one who reached out.
Veronica, who also has a loved one in the McKinzie annex, said she wants something to be done.
"Immediately, I want them to be given actual medicine, Tylenol," she said. "I want to know that they’re actually getting these health screenings that they’re having. I want to know that they’re actually being treated."
Veronica and Aguirre say they're not alone -- that several people have reached out expressing concern with the way their loved ones were being treated in the jail.
"They’re being offered masks and some of them choose not to wear a mask, some of them chose not to be tested," said Nueces Co. Sheriff J.C. Hooper in response to the mask situation.
Hooper said that although he's not sure how the COVID-19 outbreak at the McKinzie Jail Annex began, he has implemented a plan to treat the affected inmates.
There are three dorm environments within the McKinzie annex. Hooper said one dorm houses 43 inmates, one has 47, and one has 52. Currently, all three dorms are under quarantine.
"If any of them develop significant symptoms that require an elevated medical attention, they will be transported to the hospital," Hooper said Monday. "But we feel confident that we can treat all of them in those dorm environments."
He also said that inmates have been receiving two health screenings a day, which include temperature checks and symptom checks.