Officials point to over-incarceration, not just staffing as reason for 'crisis' in county jail

Ben Baur, chief public defender for the New Mexico Law Offices of the Public Defender, said officials should begin to focus on why people are incarcerated leading to to higher numbers of inmates in county jails, which across the state have been struggling with staffing critical vacancies.

"I think if it were one facility that had this problem, you might be able to hire your way out of this. This is not a short-term problem, not a county problem," Bauer said.

"This is a systemic problem. We are not going to be able to hire our way out of it. The problem is not understaffing, it's over-incarceration."

Bauer said it's incumbent upon all members of the judicial system to begin conversations about who is being incarcerated and why, including discussion about mental health and addiction among offenders statewide.

In Otero County, a 'crisis' in staffing has led to the Otero County Detention Center to transport of several hundred inmates to other facilities. Data from New Mexico Counties, showed the county jail has a vacancy rate of 50%, meaning more than 30 staff positions remained empty.

Danyna Jones, a public defender for the Alamogordo Offices of the Public Defender, said since inmates began being transported to other facilities from Otero County Detention Center it has become difficult for her and other public defenders to track and communicate in a timely manner with their clients.

Jones said while everyone, including officers who are employed at the County facility, is doing their best to address the issue, she worried it could be detrimental to not only swift justice but the quality of justice defendants receive.

"I can confirm that absolutely the director of the jail begged for folks not to be sent to jail," Jones said.

"I think one of the main issues is that we have no resources for mentally ill folks in our community that are an alternative to incarceration."

"Our jail is full of people with mental health issues. Our jail is not full of violent predators in our community."

Jones said transporting Otero County defendants to other locations, also isolates them from potential support systems, including family, friends and health services, which could potentially reduce the chance of recidivism.

As a solution, Jones said attorneys in her office have begun to file motions for conditions for release for defendants they believe are nonviolent, and can be released without threat to the public, in an effort to reduce the number of inmates booked at the facility.

Jones said she doesn't believe that the staffing issues at the jail will necessarily result in favorable outcomes for those motions as judges consider reasons to release defendants.

"I don't know that the court feels jail staffing is a reason to give more weight to release," Jones said.

Otero County Detention Center, a facility designed to house over 200 detainees, currently only has 85 inmates, according to statements by the jails service director Carolyn Barela, who told Otero County Commissioners last week that the facility would continue to try to decrease the inmate population to ease the burden on the small staff.

Barela reported to County Commissioners that 156 people were booked into the county jail in July alone.

Otero County is among several counties reporting high rates of staff vacancy. Curry County reported the highest level of staff vacancy at 58%. Bernalillo had a 55.8% vacancy rate while Chaves had a 52.6% vacancy rate. Eddy County had 38 open staff positions for a 41% vacancy rate,, while Santa Fe had 95 open positions with a vacancy rate of 46.8%.

Bauer pointed to staffing shortages across the criminal justice system, noting that the public defenders office also reported a high vacancy rate along with district attorney offices statewide.

Jessica Onsurez can be reached at jonsurez@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @JussGREAT.

This article originally appeared on Carlsbad Current-Argus: Officials point to over-incarceration, not staffing as leading reason for 'crisis' in county jail