Crime

EL PASO, Texas -- A resident at a halfway house for state prison parolees in far east El Paso County has been diagnosed with the coronavirus, and over 50 other residents at the facility are now being quarantined.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice facility called the El Paso Transitional Center is located at 1650 Horizon Blvd., just outside the Horizon City limits.

"The parole client is a resident of the facility there in El Paso (and tested postive at a local hospital). He has returned to that facility where he is in medical isolation," TDCJ spokesman Jeremy Desel told ABC-7.

The other 56 residents who were around the infected former inmate have been placed under what Desel called "medical restriction."

"Medical restriction is where folks that are non-symptomatic, but as a result of a contact investigation could potentially been exposed, are kept for at least 14 days. Temperatures are checked twice a day and they are monitored for signs or symptoms of Covid-19," Desel explained.

According to the TDCJ's website, the facility has the capacity to hold up to 200 men. It is operated by CoreCivic Inc., a subcontractor who runs a number of halfway house locations across the state for the TDCJ.

The facility over the years has regularly had residents, among them sex offenders, walking away from the facility; the center is currently on a lock down due the virus situation.