By Dan McKay
ABQ Journal
BERNALILLO COUNTY — With legal pressure building, Bernalillo County commissioners agreed late Tuesday to begin shipping inmates elsewhere to relieve overcrowding in the local jail system.
A similar proposal failed on a tie vote just last month. But since then, the commission has been ordered into federal court for confidential settlement talks aimed at resolving a 1995 civil-rights lawsuit, which centers on conditions inside the jail.
They also face other hearings in that lawsuit later this month. Commissioners said repeatedly Tuesday that the transfer of inmates to jails outside Bernalillo County is intended only as a temporary measure.
Broader changes in the criminal-justice system are needed to help manage the jail population, they said.
“I will not do this again,” Commissioner Wayne Johnson said after the vote.
Full story: County approves inmate transfers