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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T
SPONSOR Swisstack
ORIGINAL DATE
LAST UPDATED
01/24/08
HJM 22
SHORT TITLE Study County Jail Overcrowding & Related Law
SB
ANALYST Padilla
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
LFC Files
SUMMARY
Synopsis of Bill
House Joint Memorial 22 requests that a legislative study of current New Mexico law relating to
managing county jail overcrowding take place. HJM 22 proposes that the Legislature of the State
of New Mexico recognize the lack of statutory authority provided to county governments to
manage effectively county jail populations and 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 49th Legislature. A copy of
this Memorial is to be transmitted to the governor, Co-Chairs of the New Mexico Legislative
Council and the New Mexico Association of Counties.
SIGNIFICANT ISSUES
HJM 22 states that county jails in New Mexico are overcrowded and taxpayers struggle to meet
the costs of compliance with federal constitutional standards for confinement of inmates. It is
estimated that in 2007, New Mexico county taxpayers spent over $150,000,000 to house,
transport, feed, and provide medical care to approximately 7,000 inmates in county jails. Across
the board, count taxpayers pay approximately $30,000,000 per year to house state prisoners in
county jails.
Unsafe conditions are a concern for county governments who are facing increased litigation costs
due to unsafe conditions created by overcrowded jails. A reported one-half of all inmates housed
in county jails were arrested within municipal boundaries by municipal officers; however, they
became county inmates because they were charged with crimes under state law and, therefore,
municipalities pay counties only a small fraction of the costs for the inmates.
HJM 22 states that most inmates held in county jails spent almost seven and one-half months,
224 days, in jail before and after sentencing. An average jail inmate spends another 19 days in
jail before being transported to prison.
Laws in the State of New Mexico establishing county jails were originally adopted in 1865 and