Overcrowding at S. Texas detention center forces juvie offenders to sleep on floor

In Hidalgo County, the recently expanded juvenile detention facility is already full, mostly with misdemeanor offenders, primarily because of paperwork delays by the local PD and the inexplicable failure of Judge Jesse Contreras to show up for work and stay there long enough to move his cases, reported the McAllen Monitor (Nov. 16). "During the past three months, The Monitor observed Contreras routinely arrive late or delay hearings for hours without explanation. On Aug. 30, Contreras suddenly announced a brief recess, left the building and didn’t return for about two hours." Judge Contreras says the only solution is to build more jail space, but clearly there's a lot more that can be done on his end to move cases along. These are issues of process, not capacity.