A New Risk

For months, actions taken by the cops, courts and the county to reduce inmate counts and observe COVID-19 protocols have worked to keep the Santa Fe County Detention Center from joining the ranks of hundreds of jails and prisons across the country that are hotspots for the spread of the virus. The joint effort has worked, but as coronavirus cases skyrocket across the state, the jail now faces increased risk of an outbreak.

Part of the risk comes from the Santa Fe population outside the jail's walls, where the daily number of positive COVID-19 test results has hit record highs in the last week. With their transient populations and staff who return home each day, jails are subject to the whims of the virus when it spreads in the larger community.
And in Santa Fe, the jail also faces a new risk from a neighboring lockup where cases are running rampant.

New Mexico's largest jail, the Metropolitan Detention Center in Bernalillo County, has become overwhelmed by a COVID-19 outbreak that has crippled its ability to offer judicial services to everyone.

Nearly a dozen inmates missed their hearings in the First Judicial District Court in Santa Fe last week after MDC abruptly stopped organizing remote access to out-of-county hearings for inmates facing charges outside of Bernalillo County.
MDC spokeswoman Julia Rivera says they will remain in jail at MDC until Santa Fe County makes arrangements to transport them to Santa Fe and reschedule their hearings.

Since March, MDC has given those inmates—who were arrested in the Albuquerque area on new charges there, but also face warrants issued in other jurisdictions—access to video hearings in Santa Fe and elsewhere. Rivera tells SFR that with 1,300 inmates, MDC is already strained to facilitate hearings for those accused of committing crimes within its own jurisdiction while attempting to stop the spread of the virus. According to Rivera, the jail does not have the capacity to continue meeting the judicial needs of inmates facing charges in other counties.

"We've got officers that are getting sick, we've got inmates that are getting sick, it's a burden having to facilitate for courts in other counties," she says. "We have been doing the best that we can to accommodate and help where we can, but at the end of the day it's the jurisdiction in which the crime was committed that needs to take responsibility."

Yet according to Assistant District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies—who will be stepping into the top job in Santa Fe, Los Alamos and Rio Arriba counties' First Judicial District January—and Santa Fe County spokeswoman Carmelina Hart, neither Santa Fe County nor the District Attorney's Office were notified of the change that caused momentary chaos in the courts last week and left many inmates in limbo.

Carmack-Altwies tells SFR her office is fighting the change. However, if it sticks, the Santa Fe County Sheriff's office will be responsible for picking up inmates from MDC and bringing them to the jail in Santa Fe.

Carmack-Altwies is also concerned that transporting inmates from Bernalillo to Santa Fe could spread the virus to Santa Fe's jail population.

So far, officials in Santa Fe County have largely kept the virus at bay. The facility has not recorded a single case of spread between inmates, Deputy Warden Robert Page tells SFR.

As of Thursday last week, the Santa Fe jail had recorded 14 virus cases since the pandemic began in March, with seven positive test results for inmates and seven for staff. Page says he believes all the inmates were already infected when they arrived at the jail.

By comparison, MDC has recorded 673 cases as of Oct. 27—598 inmates and 75 staff. That's up from a total of 75 cases on September 8—61 inmates and 14 staff.

Page attributes part of the Santa Fe jail's success in fending off the virus to the COVID-19 protocols, but he also credits judges, attorneys and police officers for working together to reduce the population.

According to population data collected by the New Mexico Association of Counties, the population at the Santa Fe jail dropped from 446 in early March to a low of 294 inmates in May. Since then, it has slowly crept back up, reaching 340 by October 22, but is still far below pre-pandemic averages.

Jennifer Burrill, a public defender in Santa Fe, agrees that it takes goodwill and cooperation at every step along the judicial process to keep inmates safe.

"I think it's definitely been a collective effort," she says, "and so so far, I think we've done a pretty good job of minimizing the risk as much as possible. But, you know, things like what's going on now with MDC jeopardizes that."

Santa Fe Deputy Police Chief Ben Valdez tells SFR that in early April the department instructed its officers to issue citations instead of arresting people for nonviolent and non-DWI petty misdemeanors and other minor violations.

"Because we took that path there was a significant decrease in the number of people that we booked," says Valdez.

Carmack-Altwies tells SFR her office asked public defenders for lists of their clients who were already in jail for nonviolent offenses who could be released on house arrest without putting the community at risk.

Magistrate Court judges stopped issuing arrest warrants for minor infractions such as failing to pay a fine, and at the District Court level judges looked for opportunities for alternative sentencing such as house arrest with an ankle bracelet for monitoring, rather than jail time.

Page tells SFR a nurse at the jail screens all new inmates for COVID-19 immediately upon intake. Those who show symptoms or who may have been recently exposed are separated from the rest in a special "quarantine pod," though all inmates are held for 14 days and tested before they are allowed to enter the general population.

The jail conducts random tests of its general population and tests all staff members at least once a week, says Page.

Santa Fe County spokeswoman Carmelina Hart says that the county was not notified of the change at MDC, but that these measures should protect the jail from infection even if inmates do get transferred from Bernalillo.