By Jeff Proctor
The Albuquerque Journal
ALBUQUERQUE, NM -- Metropolitan Detention Center officials have asked judges to let hundreds of inmates out of jail early without telling prosecutors what they were doing.
Bernalillo County officials and judges couldn’t say Wednesday how many of the more than 400 requests had been granted or whether crime victims were notified when early release was ordered.
The form letter seeking early release does not include additional conditions, such as an ankle monitor.
The practice - which was suspended Wednesday after a Journal reporter asked questions about it - came to light by accident.
Prosecutors were surprised late last week when a woman walked into the courtroom of a judge hearing probation violation cases with a document, signed by a county caseworker at the jail, asking that the woman’s husband be released early.
The document signed by caseworker Matt Kitts had no request for an electronic ankle monitor, no proposal for a hearing to modify conditions of release, not even a note stating that 32-year-old Charles Jermain Robinson had been a model inmate at the Metropolitan Detention Center.
The request on behalf of Robinson, who was in jail on charges that he had assaulted a police officer and violated probation three times, was not unique.
Deputy County Manager Tom Swisstack, who was put in charge of cleaning up problems at the massive lockup, said he had been unaware of the practice until Tuesday night.
He said it is unclear how many of the requests have been granted by judges, but prosecutors said Robinson’s was not.
The county has for years been working with the courts to address chronic overcrowding at the massive jail, which has exceeded its 2,200 inmate capacity by as many as 500 prisoners.
Swisstack said the early release practice was put into place by his predecessor, John Dantis, and was codified in a written policy. He didn’t know whether it was part of the effort to ease overcrowding.
District Attorney Kari Brandenburg described the practice as “troubling,” saying it shuts key players out of the decisionmaking process and amounts to doing public judicial business behind closed doors.
In November, Robinson had been sentenced to serve 182 days in jail for a third violation of probation stemming from an assault on a police officer in 2009.
The document presented in court is dated March 1. Robinson’s scheduled release date is April 12.
“The following inmate has been sentenced by your court to serve a term in the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center,” the document states. “We are requesting your approval to release him/her earlier than the tentative release. We appreciate any assistance you can provide us.”
Prosecutors learned of the request when Robinson’s wife handed the early release form to pro tem Judge Diane Dal Santo, who is part of a relatively new program to hear probation violation cases. Prosecutors then objected, and Dal Santo, who was hearing other cases at the time, decided Robinson would remain in jail.
Practice suspended
Swisstack said he had researched the issue and that the county made 214 requests for early release in 2009 and another 204 requests in 2010. He did not know how many were granted, nor did he know how many requests had been made or granted this year. “It appears we have no system for tracking what was requested and what was approved,” Swisstack said, adding that he wasn’t aware of the practice until the DA’s Office notified the county about the Robinson case Tuesday. “These requests were initiated by the jail based upon an (inmate’s) participation in treatment and work programs and their willingness to change.” He said he ordered Corrections Chief Ramon Rustin to halt the practice Wednesday until county officials can review it.
Brandenburg said she is concerned with any changes to an inmate’s sentence that doesn’t include a prosecutor.
“The public loses a voice when criminal proceedings are conducted behind closed doors and outside of public view,” she wrote. “Public safety is always this office’s first concern, and any procedure which jeopardizes our time-tested process for fair and public hearings jeopardizes credibility of the entire system. It gives cause for the public to question their faith in the fairness of our justice system.”
Second Judicial District Chief Criminal Judge Albert S. “Pat” Murdoch said he believes most of the county’s requests for early release are denied by judges.
Typically, Murdoch said, county caseworkers drop the requests in judges’ mail baskets.
Judges take into consideration how much time inmates have left on their sentences and how well they have done their time before making a decision, he said.
“I haven’t talked to all the judges about this, so I don’t know what the general practice is,” Murdoch said. “For me, most of the time, I don’t have sufficient recollection of the case or the person to sign off on these requests.
“The judges don’t put much weight on this. There has been no division meeting. My guess is that most of these don’t get signed.”
Victims notified?
Murdoch said notifying prosecutors, victims and others involved of early release in a given case would be up to the county.
That is one of Brandenburg’s top concerns, she said in her e-mail. “Victims have a right to provide a statement to the court when sentencings and conditions of release are reviewed,” she wrote. “Obviously, if we do not know an inmate is being released from custody, we would not be able to notify the victim and that creates a very troubling scenario for everyone involved.” Swisstack said he wasn’t sure whether notifications were being made after early releases. “That’s part of the reason I decided to suspend the practice: Because APD, the DA, the victims - they are all important players and they need to be notified,’ he said. “Could we have done a better job of notifying? Absolutely.”
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