FOR IMMIDIATE RELEASE: November 20, 2007

CONTACT: (505) 266-5915 ext. 1003

ALBUQUERQUE—The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico sued the New Mexico Children Youth and Families Department (CYFD) today for failing to ensure safe living conditions and essential rehabilitation services for young people in state juvenile justice facilities.  The lawsuit charges CYFD with breaching the terms of a contract that it signed with the ACLU in February 2006 requiring the agency to establish minimally adequate mental health services and protect youth from physical assaults and threats of violence.  CYFD entered into the 2006 agreement in order to avoid being sued for rights violations at that time. “This lawsuit seeks to make sure that youth in our juvenile justice system get a fair shot at redirecting their lives and overcoming mistakes they made in their past,” said ACLU Executive Director Peter Simonson.  “New Mexico puts its most troubled kids in prison because we don’t have adequate mental health services.  Kids are unnecessarily incarcerated and our juvenile detention facilities become training grounds for lifelong criminals instead of centers of genuine rehabilitation.” Filed in Santa Fe District Court, the ACLU’s lawsuit seeks two basic reforms: Establish minimally adequate community mental health services for the 3,000 children and youth on probation or parole due to delinquent acts, in order to avoid the unnecessary incarceration of youth due to their mental illness; and Fundamentally improve the safety, medical care and mental health care provided to the approximately 300 children and youth held in delinquency facilities. The suit cites several instances of guard-on-youth violence, including a March 2007 incident in which staff at the Santa Fe County Juvenile Detention Center assaulted a 17-year old resident who is developmentally delayed and suffers from auditory hallucinations.  Guards picked the youth up by his armpits and repeatedly slammed his head into a metal classroom door.  CYFD rejected a complaint that the ACLU filed on the resident’s behalf, except to criticize staff for failing to videotape the ‘take down.’ Simonson said, “Hopefully your children don’t wind up in one of these facilities.  But if they do, you want to know that the staff is going to protect them, not brutalize them.  You want to know that they’re going to get the tools they need to address emotional problems and make productive behavioral adjustments.” Representing the ACLU are attorneys Daniel Yohalem and Lee Hunt of Santa Fe, ACLU Co-Legal Director Phil Davis of Albuquerque, and Alice Bussiere and Maria Ramiu ofthe Youth Law Center of San Francisco.  Yohalem is former Legal Director for the Children’s Defense Fund. ### 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. Related documents: CYFD Complaint

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 7, 2007
CONTACTS: Whitney Potter, ACLU of New Mexico (505) 266 5915 ext. 1003, Cell (505) 507 9898 or Nancy Koenigsberg, P&A (505) 256-3100
LAS CRUCES, NM—Civil rights groups sued the Dona Ana County Detention Center today for failure to provide adequate mental health services to inmates in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act and constitutional prohibitions on “cruel and unusual punishment.”  The class action suit charges county officials with “deliberate indifference to [inmates’] serious mental health needs,” including failure to provide adequate mental health screening, monitoring, and care.  On behalf of plaintiffs, Protection and Advocacy System, Inc. (P&A), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico, and private attorneys Michael Lilley of Las Cruces and Peter Cubra and Lisa Schatz-Vance of Albuquerque seek an effective program for mental health screening and treatment for all detainees and policy changes prohibiting the unnecessary incarceration of people with mental illness.
“Local officials have chosen to arrest and incarcerate people with serious mental disabilities instead of providing them with the treatment they require,” said P&A Executive Director, Jim Jackson.  “After incarcerating them, the county does not provide them with needed treatment at the jail, either.  We gave County officials multiple chances to fix the situation and they ignored our efforts.  We felt litigation was our only recourse.”
In December, 2006, a jail conditions expert, hired by P&A, inspected the jail and sent a memo to detention center Director Chris Barela recommending improvements in the jail’s program for mental health screening.  When their letter went ignored, P&A sent a second letter in June, 2007 requesting that specific problems regarding inadequate mental health care be corrected.  The letter followed an attempted suicide by a person held in the jail who is a named plaintiff in the civil rights suit.  In May and September 2007 P&A visited with jail officials and reiterated their concerns.
None of these contacts prompted significant improvements in mental health programming.
ACLU Executive Director Peter Simonson said, “By ignoring inmates’ mental health problems, the county has created a lose-lose situation.  The inmates suffer.  The jail suffers, because it faces possible suicides and violence within the facility.  And ultimately the citizens of Doña Ana county lose, because eventually some of these inmates will return to society in worse mental states than when they entered the jail.  It’s high time the situation was resolved for all concerned.”
The lawsuit was filed in state court.  In addition to policy changes, it seeks punitive and compensatory damages.

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Related Documents:

Dona Ana County Complaint

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Civil rights groups say sheriffs “broke trust” with community

FOR IMMIDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, October 17, 2007

CONTACT: Whitney Potter, ACLU of New Mexico (505) 507-9898 or Laura Rodriguez, MALDEF (310) 956-2425

LAS CRUCES, NM—Civil rights groups sued the Otero County Sheriff’s Department today for civil rights violations committed during immigration sweeps last September in the southern New Mexico town of Chaparral.  On behalf of five Latino families, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico charged sheriff’s deputies with raiding homes without search warrants, interrogating families without evidence of criminal activity, and targeting households on the basis of race and ethnicity.  The groups seek monetary damages and guarantees that the sheriff’s department will refrain from such raids in the future. “Otero County Sheriffs broke a basic bond of trust with the community of Chaparral,” said ACLU Executive Director Peter Simonson.  “When the police treat you like a criminal because of the language you speak and the color of your skin, they cease being a source of help when you are a victim of or witness to a crime.  We need to restore policing to its proper mission in Chaparral so citizens and immigrants alike can trust that someone is watching out for their safety.” Legal papers filed by the two groups describe an incident in which sheriff’s deputies ousted a family from its home by banging loudly on the home’s walls in the pre-dawn hours of September 10, 2007.  Without a warrant, one sheriff’s deputy attempted to enter through an open bedroom window where the mother had been asleep, while another shouted from the front door, “Delivery!  Mia’s Pizza.” Five of the family members are named plaintiffs in the lawsuit, two of whom are U.S citizens. MALDEF Staff Attorney David Urias said, “The enforcement of immigration laws is strictly a responsibility of the federal government.  Sheriff’s deputies are not immigration officers and do not have the authority or the training to investigate or arrest people because they suspect them of being undocumented.  In Otero County, Sheriff’s deputies are taking federal law into their own hands and violating the rights of Latinos, including citizens and legal permanent residents.  These raids are simply illegal and un-American.” # # # Founded in 1968, MALDEF, the nation's leading Latino legal organization, promotes and protects the rights of Latinos through litigation, advocacy, community education and outreach, leadership development, and higher education scholarships. For more information on MALDEF, please visit:www.maldef.org. 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. Related Documents: Otero County Complaint Otero County Sheriff's Office Public Records Request Request to Inspect Public Records (Dona Ana County)