ReleaseWire Connect

Extreme medical neglect in New Mexico prisons and jails is the rule rather than the exception. This has long been the case. Unfortunately, although the patterns have been perfectly clear to anybody paying attention, the patterns were not sufficiently clear to overcome dismissal in federal court. This is changing for New Mexico Corrections Department (NMCD), the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) and their medical contractors.

Victims of police and jail abuse no longer forced to bring lawsuits on home-court of counties or other local governmental entities.

The doctrine of negligent entrustment has been extended by the New Mexico Supreme court to cover the sale of gasoline to a drunk drivers.

A report from the Albuquerque Journal indicates that nine inmates died while in the custody of the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) during the prior August 2020 to January 2021. At least 72 inmates died in the custody of NMCD from June 2016 to November 2019.

The state of medical care for New Mexico Corrections Department (NMCD) inmates is horrendous at best, horrifying at times. The prison medical grievance system is supposed to protect inmates who are not getting constitutionally adequate medical care. It does no such thing. In fact, the medical grievance system itself encourages and perpetuates grossly deficient medical care that is often recklessly incompetent, far too often seemingly intentionally cruel and generally deliberately indifferent to the serious and even life-threatening illnesses.

The New Mexico Civil Rights Act is historic and will have profound consequences for the rights New Mexico prison and jail inmates. The Act does not seem terribly complicated but the more you dig down, the more complicated it can become.

Neglect of inmate mental health is the rule, not the exception in New Mexico Prisons as evidenced by pervasive understaffing of mental health professionals.

A suicide in a New Mexico prison requires several levels of reporting, review and investigation by the New Mexico Department of Corrections. However, a surviving loved one would do well to conduct their own investigation. It would be rare if ever that NMCD would ever find that it had done anything wrong. Instead, the real goal appears to be avoidance of legal responsibility.

Many people look at a topic such the medical care of prison inmates with measured indifference or outright disdain. The underlying subtext reads, "they deserve what they get". This broad social indifference to the health of inmates offers a bad guide for policy with dire repercussions in a broader social context.

The myths of medical malpractice are not based in reality. Instead, they are based in and motivated by profits. The medical industry like every other industry is governed by the profit motive. Unfortunately, in the case of medical care unlike other industries, innocent patients and families are harmed, often harmed very seriously and far too often killed.