Take a look inside the El Paso County Downtown Detention Facility

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- El Paso County Sheriff Oscar Ugarte gave ABC-7 a tour inside the Downtown Detention Facility Tuesday morning and walked through the processing, housing and daily life of an inmate.

Sheriff Ugarte and Detention Officer Serna explained that inmates are classified into minimum, medium or maximum custody, indicated by the color of their uniform.

Each inmate receives a blanket, bed sheet towel and shoes, in addition to a hygiene pack including toilet paper, soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, earphones and a razor.

ABC-7 spoke to Sheriff Ugarte about staffing issues, facility maintenance, jail capacity and the recent non-compliance citations regarding failures to conduct proper safety checks on inmates.

When an inmate arrives at the downtown detention facility, they meet with a classification officer.

"We don't want individuals with tickets, with somebody that's committed robbery or murder," Detention Officer Ruben Serna said.

Some high profile inmates are put in separate cells, where they stay isolated for 23 hours.

"They have one hour to come out and utilize the little day room area, change the TV, use the phone or get the tablet," Serna added.

Most inmates are housed in general population cell blocks, where two people share each cell.

"The jails have seen a decrease in violence because now the inmates have something to do," Sheriff Ugarte said. "They have access to books, videos and music. With this tablet, they can have video calls with their family members and they can send text messages."

Ugarte says putting inmates in the right housing is an important part of keeping them safe..

"Be honest with the officers that are doing your processing to make sure we put you in the right housing area," he added. "We want to make sure that that when you're here, even though you're going through a bad time in your life, we give you the right resources."