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A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING A LEGISLATIVE STUDY OF CURRENT NEW MEXICO LAW

RELATING TO MANAGING COUNTY JAIL OVERCROWDING.

WHEREAS, New Mexico county jails are seriously

overcrowded; and

WHEREAS, New Mexico county taxpayers struggle to meet

the costs of compliance with federal constitutional standards

for confinement of inmates; and

WHEREAS, in 2007, New Mexico county taxpayers spent well

over one hundred fifty million dollars ($150,000,000) to

house, transport, feed and provide medical care to

approximately seven thousand inmates in county jails; and

WHEREAS, detention costs comprise approximately one-

fourth of county general fund budgets; and

WHEREAS, county taxpayers pay approximately thirty

million dollars ($30,000,000) per year to house state

prisoners in county jails; and

WHEREAS, county governments are facing increased

litigation costs due to unsafe conditions created by jail

overcrowding; and

WHEREAS, approximately one-half of all inmates housed in

county jails were arrested within municipal boundaries by

municipal officers but became county inmates because they were

charged with crimes under state law and, therefore,

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municipalities pay counties only a small fraction of costs for

the inmates; and

WHEREAS, most inmates held in county jails spent almost

seven and one-half months, or two hundred twenty-four days, in

jail; and

WHEREAS, after sentencing, an average jail inmate spends

another nineteen days in jail before being transported to

prison; and

WHEREAS, New Mexico state laws establishing county jails

were originally adopted in 1865 and 1866, when costs to

maintain jails were minimal and each county jail contained

only a few cells and was operated by the county sheriff; and

WHEREAS, New Mexico statutes currently provide no

authority to boards of county commissioners to set policy to

manage effectively county jail populations, even when the

facilities become overcrowded and unsafe; and

WHEREAS, the New Mexico legislature, through the

Corrections Population Control Act, has given authority to the

secretary of corrections to address overcrowding issues in

state prisons by allowing for early release of nonviolent

offenders if the inmate population exceeds one hundred percent

of the facility's rated capacity for a period of sixty

consecutive days;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE

STATE OF NEW MEXICO that it recognize the lack of statutory

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authority provided to county governments to manage effectively

county jail populations; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the state of New Mexico

direct the interim legislative committee that studies

corrections issues, in collaboration with the New Mexico

association of counties, to study current law relating to jail

operations, report its findings and make recommendations for

legislation prior to the first session of the forty-ninth

legislature; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be

transmitted to the governor, the co-chairs of the New Mexico

legislative council and the New Mexico association of

counties.