7 hours ago
Citing $1 million a day of wasted federal dollars, the American Civil Liberties Union called on President Joe Biden’s administration on Wednesday to close 39 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities across the U.S., including the Otero County Processing Center in Chaparral.
The federal government has been paying for the empty bed spaces at these facilities, almost all run by privately-owned companies, which the ACLU called “wasting” taxpayer money.
The ACLU established a criteria for the 39 facilities it is calling on the federal government to close. In its statement, issued Wednesday, the ACLU said that Otero County Processing Center (OCPC) was included because of its “extensive record of civil rights violations and inhumane treatment.”
New Mexico’s Top Prison Official: Ending Practice Of Contracting With Private Firms To Operate Jails Won’t Happen Anytime Soon
By PHAEDRA HAYWOOD
SFNM
New Mexico’s top prison official said the state could eventually end its practice of contracting with private, for-profit firms to operate four of its 11 detention facilities, but the change won’t come anytime soon.
The comments Friday by Corrections Secretary Alisha Tafoya Lucero followed an executive order earlier this week by President Joe Biden, who said the U.S. Department of Justice must end its reliance on private operators for federal prisons.
Tafoya Lucero said she’s not philosophically opposed to the idea of getting rid of privately run prisons but she doesn’t favor the state taking such action now.
By Phaedra Haywood, Santa Fe New Mexico |
January 30, 2021
New Mexico’s top prison official said the state could eventually end its practice of contracting with private, for-profit firms to operate four of its 11 detention facilities, but the change won’t come anytime soon.
The comments Friday by Corrections Secretary Alisha Tafoya Lucero followed an executive order earlier this week by President Joe Biden, who said the U.S. Department of Justice must end its reliance on private operators for federal prisons.
Tafoya Lucero said she’s not philosophically opposed to the idea of getting rid of privately run prisons but she doesn’t favor the state taking such action now.
ALAMOGORDO Attorneys for detainees at the Otero County Detention Center say they are finding it increasingly difficult to get information about the health of their clients amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since early December, attorneys with the Law Office of the Public Defender in the 12th Judicial District say they ve attempted multiple times to get copies of these health records via inspection of public records requests to the county. But because of the pandemic, county officials said the request for the physical copies of the records are too burdensome.
Instead, county officials told LOPD its officials could visit the facility and make copies. Because of the pandemic, LOPD Attorney Dayna Jones said sending attorneys to a location that may be experiencing a high number of COVID-19 cases was out of the question.