CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The historic 1914 Nueces County courthouse is set to be demolished in the next couple of months.
Before it was a vacant building, it was bustling with judges, clerks, attorneys and even inmates, with the fifth floor housing some of the worst of the worst.
An image of Jesus, left untouched, has changed the way people view the unit decades later.
Nueces County Sheriff JC Hooper says as crews get ready to tear down the historic Nueces County courthouse, officials have found an image of Jesus painted on a cell wall by an inmate.
Sheriff Hooper tells me he has toured the facility several times with the county judge to see what can be salvaged with the historical commission. On the fifth floor, they found the image on a cell wall, created by an inmate.
The housing unit was referred to as the miscellaneous unit, which housed inmates who were classified as violent.
"We had a — we had a deputy working here, um, that actually worked in that courthouse 50 years ago," Hooper said. "And he told me that this housing unit. They referred to it as the miscellaneous unit because it housed a variety of inmates who had one thing in common they were violent offenders. They were repeat offenders. They were like the baddest of the bad, and so the majority of them were already on their way to the penitentiary when they were being housed there."
The photo was taken by Dr. Richard Chepey 25 years ago. Now the image can barely be seen due to wear and tear.
The image still lives on, framed in the sheriff's office and made into postcards for others to have. A book will also be created to preserve the memory of the historic courthouse, Sheriff Hooper says 'Jail House Jesus' will be in the book.
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