Otero County jail continues to re-house inmates as Commissioners approve seeking private contractors to manage facility
Though Otero County Detention Center has 194 prisoners on its books, only 84 are currently housed at the facility, according to the jail's service direct Carolyn Barela.
Barela told Otero County Commissioners on Thursday that 29 of the County's inmates are housed at the MTC's Otero County facility, 32 at Hudspeth County in Texas, 16 in Doña Ana County, seven in Socorro and 26 in Luna County. Another four are being housed by the New Mexico Department of Corrections.
"Due to major staffing shortages at the jail we had to move prisoners out that we didn't have the staff to take care of here at Otero County," Couy Griffin informed the public at the meeting.
Five remaining pods, as individual housing groups in the jail are labeled, will also be rehoused according to Barela, as the county facility works with its partners to find appropriate transportation and housing.
There are 32 vacant positions she said she hoped to fill, a number that New Mexico Counties data said meant the facility had a 50% staff vacancy rate, among the highest in the state.
Barela said the jail has 27 employees, 19 full and 1 part time.
"Right now with everybody doing twice or more (of their duties), picking up other jobs, we're like a bunch of squirrels, running around trying to pick up nuts," Barela told Commissioners.
"Even right now with the lower amount of imamates were still scrambling because there's a lot we do at the facility."
Barela said there should be eight officers per shift, however, current staffing levels don't allow that and employees are struggling with burn out.
The facility isn't alone in its staffing challenges. New Mexico Counties data showed that half of the county detention facilities have vacancy rates about 20%.
Commission Vickie Marquardt worried that should those facilities continue to struggle with retaining and recruiting staff, Otero County might be forced to bring its inmates back to the facility despite the staffing issues.
Grace Philips, with New Mexico Counties, told the Alamogordo Daily News, the organization was working with stakeholders to aid counties struggling with staffing issues, including law enforcement and the courts to reduce the number of people being jailed.
Barela said 156 people had been booked into the county jail in July alone.
The Commission, in its consent agenda, approved additional measures they hoped would ease the situation at the facility. Agreements with the New Mexico Corrections Department and Doña Ana County meant those facilities would be able to house Otero County inmates in the future.
The Commission also agreed to seek bids for a private contractor to run the Otero County Detention Center, which is undergoing a project with new construction and renovation.
The projected completion date for the work at the facility is the end of September, said Otero County Project Manage Trent Parker.
"It's looking pretty good out there now," Parker told Commissioners.
The project was bid at $13.9 million, but Parker said unforeseen issues in renovating the older building meant that $14.2 million have expended to date.
Those renovations include upgraded security measures and infrastructure, and the new construction includes facilities for medical and mental health services.
Jessica Onsurez can be reached at jonsurez@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @JussGREAT.
This article originally appeared on Carlsbad Current-Argus: Otero County jail continues to re-house inmates as Commissioners approve seeking private contractors to manage facility
