Morning Word: Prison Guards Fire at Inmate During Target Practice

Prisoner screamed in pain after getting hit by a nonlethal bean bag

By Peter St. Cyr

It's Thursday, July 30, 2015

This story just seems unreal. A prison inmate in Grants is suing the New Mexico Corrections Department after he says a guard shot him in the foot with a bean bag during target practice.

A spokeswoman says the department contends their nonlethal training exercise didn't injure Vasquez. Robert Nott has the shocking details.  New Mexico Tax and Revenue Secretary Demesia Padilla continues to deny she pressured two staffers to give a former client preferential treatment. Her office gave Heath Haussamen an email that shows officials told the workers the audit was not changed, but the attorney general's office continues to investigate information turned over by the state auditor's office. For now, Padilla says she remains focused on her work. Read it at NMPolitics.net.  Daniel J. Chacón reports a plan to build a controversial assisted-care living facility on Old Pecos Trail remains in limbo after a wild City Council meeting last night. Read it at the Santa Fe New Mexican.  Even with illegal border crossings on the decline, a report from the Homeland Security Advisory Committee suggests systemic changes at the US Customs and Border Protection agency and says the country's largest police force needs to be more transparent and develop a use-of-force policy that prioritizes human life. Information in the report about racial profiling exceptions, according to Brian Erickson, are alarming. Read more at NM Politics.net.  Meanwhile, the state's US senators want to know more about a labor dispute at the federal law enforcement training center in Artesia. Matthew Reichbach reports.  While the New Mexico Occupational Safety and Health Bureau investigates that fiery medical cannabis dispensary explosion in Santa Fe, the bureau has leveled a big fine against the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Authority for exposing employees to toxic chemicals. Joey Peters has the details.  With six key jobs vacant at the Public Regulation Commission in Santa Fe, the chief of the regulatory group says the agency is struggling to move cases through the docket. But hiring new staffers would increase the PRC's budget deficit.

Margaret Wright has details. 

Santa Fe Reporter

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