By Brittney Cannon
Clovis News Journal
CLOVIS, NM — Curry County commissioners approved new policies for the jail Monday during a special meeting but it wasn’t without an hour-long discussion.
The commission also discussed the possibility of no longer approving policy changes Jail Administrator Tori Sandoval enacts.
Sandoval presented the commission with the jail’s new policy regarding “special management” inmates, including those with mental handicaps. Sandoval said the New Mexico Association of Counties gave the jail the policy, which Sandoval said she combined with the old policy.
The jail currently has 33 special needs inmates, Sandoval said.
“Some of the wording had to be changed in this to fit our facility and the current policy in place,” Sandoval said. “Basically, (these are) the procedures (for) how we will treat our special management inmates.”
The key thing in the policy, Sandoval said, is documentation.
“I have to put in who I talked to, when I went in,” Sandoval said. “Each of these cases is going to have a thick file for individuals just for a paper trail.”
Sandoval said jail administrators have broken out three groups of special needs inmates that are to meet on a weekly basis with mental health administrators, housing and other jail leaders like captains.
“Everyone comes together for these individuals,” Sandoval said.
The new policy also outlines, she said, special management for inmates’ basic needs, laundry, recreational schedule and when they can go to the barbershop.
Administrators will also attend mental health trainings in July so they can better understand and deal with special needs inmates.
Commissioner Wendell Bostwick said that managing “special needs inmates,” is not just a county issue but a national one.
“Curry County is not alone in things we’re trying to address,” he said. “This is a personal statement. I think it’s an educational process. The challenge is trying to make jails mental and special needs facilities. Ten years ago, we’d take special needs (individuals) to a proper facility … we don’t have that luxury anymore. It puts us between a rock and a hard place.”
Commissioner Angelina Baca brought the court system into the discussion, mentioning the “screeching halt” a motion can bring when an attorney wants to see whether or not an inmate is mentally able to stand trial.
“The moment that happens, it comes to a screeching halt,” Baca said. “It’s like we’re just holding them, and it’s costly. If you’ve got somebody like that … isolated, mental health for that person is not going to get any better by being in that situation.”
Baca asked if anyone had discussed mentally disabled inmates and their situation with the district attorney or chief judge to expedite the process. County Attorney Steve Doerr said it had been addressed, but noted, “it’s a very complex process,” mostly due to funding and finding available space in jails and qualified mental evaluators under contract with the county.
Commissioner Tim Ashley asked Sandoval what the screening process for inmates looks like once they’re booked and entering the facility. Sandoval said the biggest thing medical evaluators look for is if the inmate is suicidal, at which point mental health evaluators get involved.
“I assume there’s different tracking that takes place depending on what their needs are,” Ashley said. “And what if they’re schizophrenic?”
“It goes into their classification. We look to see if they have their medications. There are several things we have to look at in their placement,” Sandoval replied.
Bostwick suggested the commission try to sit down with county officials, mental health workers and the judicial team to work out a solution to the challenges the county and jail are facing.
Doerr agreed it would be a good idea, however suggested narrowing down the focus and discuss the issues with the district attorney instead.
“It’s best to start with the DA and get an understanding on competency issues and get something arranged on those lines,” Doerr said. “You might want to look at specific issues instead of trying to get everyone together.”
Sandoval’s new jail policies were approved with one abstention from Commissioner Chet Spear, who said that the New Mexico Association of Counties recommended commissioners remove themselves from the review and approval process for jail policies.
“I feel that our current administrator should take care of that. She’s been hired to do that job and I think she should do her job,” Spear said.
Then the discussion on whether or not to continue approving policies opened up.
“I’m not going to continue my review of your revised policies,” Spear said. “You make the policy. It’s your facility, it’s on your shoulders.”
Bostwick agreed and opened it up for discussion among Doerr and commissioners.
“We’re dealing with human beings over there,” Baca said. “I think it’s important that we question some of the policies and review them to see if some of them need to be changed. I don’t know that we have to be hands-on, but it just gives me pause to think we’d step away and not have any dialogue with those.”
Bostwick said his frustration comes from “the hoops we have to jump through,” to get policies instilled.
“If we have policies that need to be enacted, (Sandoval) is the one that should know what that policy is,” Bostwick said. “We’ve been sitting on (these policies) for six months and we still don’t have them. I agree we should discuss and look at it, but our process is really burdensome right now. We should streamline that process.”
Baca said accreditation would help streamline the policy approval process at the jail — if they can get it accredited.
“A huge thing that comes along with accreditation, once you apply, you only have one year to get it done,” Bostwick said. “Ultimately, if we could get accreditation, it’s a wonderful thing. But that accreditation is going to be a challenge.”
“Lance has hired Ms. Sandoval to be our administrator,” Spear said. “She’s got the experience. We need to trust her.”
Doerr said regardless if commissioners approve policies or not, they are still liable for them.