Most prisoners at the complex are low-security criminal aliens, serving sentences of one to five years for drug offenses or immigration violations.
[4] Two significant riots (on December 12 through 13 of 2008, and January 31 through February 5, 2009) apparently were sparked by prisoner protests over substandard medical care and other issues.
Between August 2008 and March 2009 five men died in the complex, most notably Jesus Manuel Galindo, an epileptic Mexican citizen who was denied treatment in 2008, despite his repeated pleas for assistance.
On May 16, 2017, Texas Democratic state Senator Carlos Uresti was indicted by a federal grand jury in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas for conspiracy to commit bribery and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
The indictment claims acting Reeves County administrator, Judge Jimmy Galindo (not related to the deceased detainee) conspired With Uresti to approve the medical contract through the county commissioners court in exchange for kickbacks and "promises of future payments."