By SHERRY ROBINSON
All She Wrote
© 2023 New Mexico News Services
Maybe in the future a speaker will urge new high school graduates to consider the rewarding career of a detention center guard. If counties can shake more money out of the state. If the state takes responsibility for its part of counties’ expenses. If our jails get the attention they need.
If…
Legislators recently heard about the sorry state of New Mexico jails from the New Mexico Association of Counties, presenting before the interim Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee.
New Mexico has more people in detention than in prison, which is unusual, said Grace Philips, general counsel of the association.
“Bizarre” is the word used by Sen. Moe Maestas, D-Albuquerque. “We’re one of the few states with more inmates in the county jail than in state prison,” said the former prosecutor.
“That’s way too many people in jail.”
The way the system works is that people arrested in the county go to a county detention center. To serve a sentence for committing a crime, they should be in prison. The county jail is intended to hold people temporarily, but many detainees spend a lot of time in county facilities.
Among other reasons, they can get drug treatment in county jails that’s not available in state prison. How backward is that?
Philips admits to being a numbers geek, and her numbers paint quite a picture.
Of the state’s 33 counties, 25 have detention centers. Together, they cost $336.8 million.
That’s a third of their collective budgets. (Some counties are spending half their budget on the detention facility.) In fiscal 2023, 45% of detention spending was for personnel, 31% was operations, 19% was medical, and 5% capital improvement.
That brings us to the next shocking number – staffing vacancies. McKinley County had the highest vacancy rate (56.67%) on Oct. 20, followed by Quay County at 54.55%, and Bernalillo County adult and juvenile facilities at 41.36% and 46.39%.
Starting pay for a detention officer ranges from $15 an hour in Quay County and $16.92 in McKinley County to $21.75 in Rio Arriba County, $23.75 in Eddy County and $27.30 in Lea County.
Counties have raised salaries, but they’re still hard pressed to hire guards. There’s only so much money to go around, and it’s a dangerous job. Workers’ compensation claims tell us detention workers are much more likely than other county workers to have work-related injuries, and the injuries are more likely to be severe.
“The counties and (state) Corrections (Department) are often just stealing from each other,” Philips said. “When you’re understaffed it’s very, very hard to recruit.”
The association wants lawmakers to add $10 million to the Detention and Corrections Workforce Capacity Building Fund for recruitment and retention.
Liability is another cost, and it’s substantial, Philips said. The association administers a self-funded insurance pool. Costs are up, and coverage is down. Counties are paying more for less protection.
Counties get some revenue from local taxes and state and federal governments, but the association made clear that the state isn’t paying its fair share. After a 2006 lawsuit, the state created a detention reimbursement fund, but it’s never been fully funded. Katherine Crociata, the association’s government relations officer, said the average cost to counties of housing state detainees is $7.5 million. Just last year, the reimbursement fund got up to $5 million. The state has also not reimbursed for transportation.
Rep. Gail Chasey, D-Albuquerque, said, “We’ve been trying to get the counties their money for 26 years.” She and the counties want a way to bill the state directly.
In the next legislative session, crime will be a priority as usual, but the debate must look at all the moving parts of the criminal justice system, including the humble county jail.
