They’re so frustrated with the conditions inside the city’s jail, Houston police detectives decided to give 11 News a tour. Their bosses probably wouldn't like it, so to avoid attention; a home video camera was used to capture the images.

The detectives wanted the public to see just how old, out of date and defective the equipment is inside the building that houses the city’s main jail.

Inside, you will find the stained ceiling tiles, exposed wiring, punctured walls, leaking pipes and worn chairs.

But what bothers investigators most is the interview room where criminal suspects are interrogated and video taped.

If you watch cop shows, you've seen the recordings. Interviews conducted in the rooms are crucial. Often-indispensable pieces of evidence for a prosecutor, a judge and a jury.

At the main city jail, HPD employees say there is only one interview room. One room for the fourth largest police department in the country.

And a tiny camera in the ceiling feeds to an outdated VHS recorder. A machine that one homicide detective says destroyed his tape and a confession.

There is plenty of space for more interview rooms and recording equipment, but most of the adjacent rooms are filled with trash and old equipment.

To give some perspective, 11 News visited a much smaller police department in the area to see what kind of equipment it has.

At the jail 11 News visited, there are two interview rooms next to the jail, both equipped with DVD recorders.

They have separate viewing rooms with one-way glass and flat screen monitors so that other authorities can watch.

The smaller police department 11 News visited wanted to remain anonymous because officers didn’t want to upset anyone at HPD.

But frankly, they feel sorry for their fellow officers in Houston.

And we’re not talking about a bunch of expensive custom-built equipment here.

One officer told us that city purchasing officers could go to any Best Buy and Home Depot to buy all the stuff they need to adequately equip the interview room at Houston’s jail.