FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:Tuesday, July 14, 2009
CONTACT: Nancy Koenigsberg (505) 256-3100 of Disability Rights NM or Terri Beach (505)242-2228 for the City of Las Cruces
LAS CRUCES—The Las Cruces Police Department (LCPD) reached an agreement with civil rights groups to expand officer training to improve interactions with persons who have or appear to have mental disabilities.  In furtherance of its policy that LCPD has not, does not and will not target such individuals for questioning, intervention or arrest, the LCPD will, among many other efforts:

• Continue to develop LCPD’s specialized response system for persons who have or appear to have a mental illness. This system will continue to include LCPD Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) response officers specially trained in techniques for interventions with persons with, or who appear to have, mental disabilities.

• Expand commitment to provide all officers with tools and training needed to respond

appropriately to people with, or who appear to have, mental disabilities, including: 40 hours of New Mexico Department of Public Safety (NMDPS)-accredited instruction in crisis management to all cadets; 40 hours of NMDPS-accredited Crisis Intervention Training to those officers who volunteer to undergo the training and 40 hours of NMDPS-accredited instruction bi-annually to all officers, including eight hours of advanced in-service training regarding interactions with persons with, or who appear to have, mental illness.

• Expand commitment to provide officers with the training and authority to divert persons with, or who appear to have, a mental disability to available community mental health treatment resources as an alternative to arrest.

• Continue participation in monthly stakeholders’ meetings to discuss a strategic plan to identify, develop and implement a plan for Las Cruces and Doña Ana County to provide additional mental health resources that may be pooled and used to provide sufficient opportunities for diversion of persons with mental illness from the criminal justice system, including the development of sufficient 24/7 mental health services. Stakeholders to include county social services agencies and representatives from mental health providers, the judiciary, the district attorney’s office, the public defender’s office, individuals who use mental health services, family members of individuals who use mental health services, the New Mexico Behavioral Health Purchasing Collaborative, interested legislators, and other interested parties.

The agreement stems from a lawsuit filed by Disability Rights New Mexico formerly the Protection and Advocacy System), the ACLU of New Mexico, the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, and private attorneys Peter Cubra, Lisa Schatz-Vanz, and Mike Lilley. Also under the agreement, the City of Las Cruces will pay $150,000, part of which will be used to promote awareness of mental health issues. The City also agrees to track and make available training-related documentation.
The agreement received unanimous City Council approval on March 16, 2009 and is in the process of being finalized. Private attorneys Peter Cubra, Lisa Schatz-Vance and Mike Lilley worked with the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico, Disability Rights New Mexico, and the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law on the agreement.

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The mission of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico is to maintain and advance the cause of civil liberties within the state of New Mexico, with particular emphasis on the freedom of religion, speech, press, association, and assemblage, and the right to vote, due process of law and equal protection of law, and to take any legitimate action in the furtherance and defense of such purposes. These objectives shall be sought wholly without political partisanship.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:Wednesday, June 17, 2009
CONTACT: Brendan Egan, Staff Attorney, ACLU-NM (505) 243-0046
Albuquerque—The ACLU of New Mexico sued the Geo Group corporation and several employees of New Mexico’s newest private prison today, alleging violations of seven inmates’ right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. The lawsuit stems from a December 10, 2008 incident in which all seven inmates were locked in a cold shower room with little or no clothing for five hours. When the inmates were showering, the prison had gone on “lock-down” because of a disturbance in another area of the prison. Some of the seven inmates were almost to their cells when they were forced back in the shower room.
While locked in the shower, prison personnel teased and taunted the inmates for the five hours. One female prison guard also videotaped them, laughing and dancing at the inmates, all of whom were male. Tear gas used to control the disturbance elsewhere in the prison drifted into the shower room. One of the inmates who suffered from asthma requested to be let out of the shower room to get his inhaler because of the gas, but his request was ignored by guards.
Claiming they couldn’t find the keys, after five hours the guards forced the inmates to crawl out of the shower through a filthy, cinderblock-size hole in the shower wall.
Several of the inmates developed skin conditions because of the incident, which went untreated for weeks by the prison.
“New Mexico has one of the largest percentage of inmates housed in privately-run prison facilities in the country,” said Bryan J. Davis, a Cooperating Attorney for the ACLU of New Mexico. “These prisons go up, the employees don’t receive adequate training, and the inmates suffer the consequences. It’s irresponsible on the part of the private prison companies and the State that contracts with them.”
Filed in federal court, the lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages against the private prison company and its employees. The case was brought by Bryan J. Davis of Davis & Gilchrist, P.C., an ACLU-NM Cooperating Attorney; George Bach and Brendan Egan, ACLU-NM Staff Attorneys; and Phil Davis, ACLU-NM Co-Legal Director.

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The mission of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico is to maintain and advance the cause of civil liberties within the state of New Mexico, with particular emphasis on the freedom of religion, speech, press, association, and assemblage, and the right to vote, due process of law and equal protection of law, and to take any legitimate action in the furtherance and defense of such purposes. These objectives shall be sought wholly without political partisanship.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:Friday, May 15, 2009

CONTACT: Peter Simonson, ACLU of New Mexico (505) 266-5915 x1002; or ACLU Volunteer Attorney, Mike Lilley (575) 524-7809

LAS CRUCES—The ACLU of New Mexico sued officers of the New Mexico Motor Transportation Division (MTD) for targeting vehicles driven by African Americans for inspections, searches and detentions at the MTD port of entry in Lordsburg, New Mexico.  The lawsuit stems from an August 15, 2008 incident in which MTD officer Ben Strain stopped and cited truck driver Curtis Blackwell for the alleged violation of carrying alcohol in a commercial vehicle, even though the containers were unopened.  After receiving contact from Blackwell, ACLU volunteer attorneys Michael Lilley and Michael Stout uncovered evidence that MTD officers in the Lordsburg division stopped and booked a disproportionately high number of African American truck drivers compared to the general population of truck drivers passing through the port of entry.

“For years we’ve suspected that race played an improper role in vehicle inspections at the Lordsburg station,” said Lilley.  “Mr. Blackwell’s experience confirmed our suspicions and gave us reason to look into the matter in depth.  What we discovered was a clear and consistent pattern of racial disparity favoring the booking of African American truck drivers.”
Data the attorneys obtained through Hidalgo County Detention Center records shows that, between April 2005 and March 2008, 20 percent of all bookings by MTD agents at the detention center were African American, while African Americans represented only 2 percent of bookings by other law enforcement agencies.  Most of the MTD bookings were truck drivers.

Legal papers filed by the ACLU claim that “virtually every truck driver charged criminally in federal court who was arrested by an MTD officer stationed in Lordsburg is African American/Black.”

“Targeting motorists on the basis of race is a lose-lose proposition,” said ACLU Executive Director Peter Simonson.  “Not only does it breed resentment and mistrust towards police in the community, but it also fails as a method of police investigation.  Studies of traffic stops and searches show that people of color are no more likely to be involved in criminal activity than whites.”

In addition to charges of discrimination, the ACLU lawsuit alleges that Officer Strain and the citation violated Blackwell’s due process rights by pressuring him to sign his guilt on the citation under threat of arrest and seizure of his vehicle.  Blackwell agreed to pay the penalty and signed the citation.
Filed in federal court, the lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages, expungement of the citation from Blackwell’s record, and a declaration that the citation is unconstitutional.

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The mission of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico is to maintain and advance the cause of civil liberties within the state of New Mexico, with particular emphasis on the freedom of religion, speech, press, association, and assemblage, and the right to vote, due process of law and equal protection of law, and to take any legitimate action in the furtherance and defense of such purposes. These objectives shall be sought wholly without political partisanship.