By Dan McKay
Albuquerque Journal
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The song remains the same at Bernalillo County’s massive West Side jail: It’s overcrowded and expensive.
County commissioners late Tuesday unanimously authorized spending an extra $100,000 to help pay for sending inmates to Santa Fe County if needed. That’s because the inmate population at Bernalillo County’s Metropolitan Detention Center is holding steady at roughly 2,600, or about 16 percent above design capacity.
No local inmates are actually housed outside Bernalillo County at this point, but jail managers are preparing for that possibility, especially because the jail population usually climbs in summer months.
Overcrowding can create safety problems for inmates and corrections officers alike, officials say, and there’s already litigation centering on conditions inside the lockup.
Tuesday’s commission approval expands a purchase order for Santa Fe County jail space from $450,000 to $550,000. The extra money is already available in the jail’s $60 million annual operating budget.
In an interview, Ron Torres, Bernalillo County’s chief of corrections, said the jail is making real progress despite the request for extra money. In fact, he said, the population usually spikes by March or April, but the number of inmates has remained “relatively flat” so far, he said.
The jail cannot, of course, exercise much direct control over who’s locked up. But the county is working with the courts to get inmates processed through the criminal justice system more efficiently, which can bring down the population.
Bernalillo County has agreed to pay Santa Fe County about $52 a day for each inmate. About $1.2 million was budgeted this year for housing inmates outside Bernalillo County, although Torres doesn’t actually expect to spend that much.
The commission spent little time discussing the issue before approving the money.
Commissioner Michael Brasher asked whether the county could inspect the Santa Fe jail to ensure it’s adequate, and Torres assured him the county has that right.
Brasher also broached the idea of constructing an addition to the Bernalillo County jail, which cost about $90 million and sits atop the far West Mesa.
If operating costs continue to rise, Brasher said, “we will need to add on to that jail and probably need to do it soon.”
The discussion comes as a federal lawsuit over jail conditions drags into its 15th year. The future of the suit is unclear. In dispute is the validity of settlement agreements outlining a way out of the case - an issue that’s been appealed.
There was also controversy last year over the severe beating of an inmate and reports of a jail officer’s sexual relationship with an inmate. Two commissioners, Art De La Cruz and Maggie Hart Stebbins, asked for an independent review of jail operations last summer.
A report on that effort is expected to go to commissioners later this month, Stebbins said Tuesday.
Copyright 2010 Albuquerque Journal