By T.J. Wilham
Albuquerque Journal
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The District Attorney’s Office is reviewing reports that a corrections officer became pregnant after having sex with an inmate in the cellblock she supervised at the Metropolitan Detention Center.
The officer, Reyna Lujan, 29, resigned while detectives were investigating the allegations.
The inmate, Erik Braman, 29, has since been released from jail and placed on probation. According to police, he moved in with Lujan after he was released in January.
Under New Mexico law, it is illegal for police and correctional officers to have sex with people in their custody. State courts have ruled that it constitutes rape, whether the sex was consensual or not.
Lujan, who has been a correctional officer for four years, has denied having sex with her prisoner and has not been charged.
On Monday, sheriff’s detectives forwarded the investigation to the District Attorney’s Office, which is reviewing the case. It is unknown whether Lujan gave birth to the baby.
According to police reports, a correctional officer received a tip from an inmate in February that Lujan had been having a relationship with Braman, who was serving a sentence for trafficking a controlled substance. Braman told another inmate that Lujan, who supervised his cellblock, was “his girl” and he “had it made.”
Jail staff started an inquiry and pulled hundreds of recordings of phone calls from the jail to Lujan’s cell phone number. On the recordings, the two could be heard talking about their relationship, sexual activities and Braman being the father of Lujan’s child, according to police reports.
Jail staff turned the recordings over to sheriff’s detectives.
During one of the first conversations, which occurred in Novem- ber, Lujan voiced her concern about being pregnant. She later told Braman she had taken a pregnancy test.
About a month later, the two had another conversation about Braman trying to get out of jail before it was apparent that Lujan was pregnant. Braman was pleading with the court for an early release.
During the conversation, Lujan said, “If you don’t get out, I am going to lock down the pod and we are going to do what we have to do. I have been waiting for you to get out. If you don’t get out I am probably going to lose my job,” according to police reports.
The same day, they talked about having sex in Braman’s cell and not having enough time to finish because Lujan was being called by other correctional officers on her radio. The two laughed about her having to run out of his cell, according to police reports.
In other conversations, Lujan talked about getting cigarettes for Braman and forging a doctor’s note so she didn’t have to go to work.
Jail officials placed Lujan on administrative leave early in March. About three weeks later, they called her back into work while the investigation was being conducted. She failed to show up and resigned.
She did write a letter to her superiors indicating that she never had “sexual relations” with Braman and that she did not believe her phone conversations with him amounted to “fraternizing.”
When she resigned, she said it was because of “medical complications with her pregnancy.”
Copyright 2009 Albuquerque Journal