As the coronavirus established a foothold in southern New Mexico’s Otero County Prison Facility in mid-May, state officials quietly moved 39 inmates out of the massive complex near the Texas border to another prison near Santa Fe.
The inmates shared something in common: None was a sex offender.
In the days before the 39 departed the massive correctional complex where New Mexico’s only sex offender treatment program is housed, officials were still transferring sex offenders from other state prisons into Otero. It was a routine practice they had yet to stop, even though more than a dozen COVID-19 cases had already emerged elsewhere in the prison.
Six weeks later, 434 inmates — or 80% — have the virus, within a prison population that’s now entirely composed of people who, at one time or another, were convicted of a state sex offense.
Three have died. Eight more lie ill at University Hospital in El Paso.
One of New Mexico’s most crowded prisons, Otero is the only state lockup with more than one COVID-19 case. And yet no prisoner from the facility has been released early under an executive order issued by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on April 6 because sex offenders are not eligible.
Prisoners from the state’s 10 other facilities have gotten out, however, documents New Mexico In Depth obtained through a public records request show.
The revelations come through more than a week of reporting by New Mexico In Depth, and confirmation from Corrections Department spokesman Eric Harrison.
The timeline of inmate transfers as the virus crept into the prison is “really concerning,” said Lalita Moskowitz, staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico.
“It indicates that Corrections knew that there was likely to be an outbreak or that there was some danger or risk to people housed in that facility,” Moskowitz said. “And they made a very clear decision about who in that facility was worth saving during a pandemic, and did so earlier than they were showing any sort of concern to the public.”
State officials didn’t seek to create a sex-offender-only prison purposely by sending the 39 inmates to Santa Fe, Harrison said. Rather, they did it “for COVID reasons,” he said, adding that they had been housed in a separate area of the Otero prison, away from the sex offenders.
“It wasn’t a specific policy change or big decision to make Otero the only sex-offender-only prison,” he said. “After that first inmate tested positive, we needed space to create a quarantine unit.”
As of Thursday, there had been no discussion in the Lujan Grisham administration about revisiting the criteria in the executive order on early release, including the provision excluding sex offenders, Harrison told NMID.
That’s despite the outbreak in Otero County.
New Mexico prison system has transfered all NON-sex offenders out of a prison rampant with Covid-19, while transferring sex offenders from other prisons INTO that same prison. Now 80% of the population has the virus. Three have died, eight lie ill. If this happened in California, ACSOL we would be talking of several million dollars in litigation.
Hitler would be proud!
New Mexico has blood on its hands and I hope the families sue the heck out of the state. Are todays prisons modern rail cars for the outcasts? Maybe the people that come up with these experiments need to be incarcerated themselves!! Evil government officials and shame on them; their moms raised a bunch of useless idiots!!
Sometimes I think Death would be a blessing…
That said, I hope Justice reform leads to burning it all down.
This is how it starts….
There’s no wording that says punishment, but the actions of sending people to a death sentence says otherwise. They honestly think no one will remember or care, but they’re going to be sorely mistaken when this is all said and done.
Prayers go out to these people.
Ok Will Allen and many of you all on here. Guess bars of soap don’t help if one doesn’t know how to open the package. Maybe one should say ti the firing squad and just get rid of the sex offender permanetly. Course one wonders as ready to fight said on here about rubbing one’s mose in a pile of ?. Guess if it wasn’t for a woman you or me would still be learning to wipe.
Even the women on here are worried about their son’s or daughters getting caught up in all this confusion and here most all of you are worrying about offending again or if I do this its breaking something or some law that is out of the ordinary.
Wow guess we all should go back to the days of Hitler, the prisoners of war and learn something or are we all prisoners with this type of menicing sex registry. Nothing wrong with starting your own M.A. S. H. unit. (Militant’s Against Sexual hate) abuse groups. Its better than robbing banks.I’m sure Will Allen could be a leader in that group. Whether inbreaks or outbreaks paranoid strokes all that let it but with Convid it is killing no matter who or what gender.
One wonders who the Dennis is in this Meance today. One wonders if money soothe’s the savage beast, or is it hate, confusion, the sex inducement or the understanding thats the principals. Or who is coming down on who or many today. Will Allen you talk about this hit list but what is a hit list. Is it some over due parking ticket, someone meddling type of justice relief, or some conscious searing, or a scar of a scarlet letter. Guess nobody wonders if its a man or women doing these sex sting operations long as the vain methods of Justice is served.
Is it a nothing to fear but a fear itself or some authority saying this will be over soon so who needs to be concerned, or nothing to worry about but we need to open up states now so people can get back to work. What a triangle. So who’s really in control with this virus or who says its safe to come out of the kitchen or out of the house to breathe. All this over a little internet sex sting operation that shouldn’t of started in the first place or we cut out everybody’s tongue. Wait a minute that wouldn’t work as we are already involved in this ordeal one way or another.
Is the phrase music soothes’ the savage beast wrong or is the internet sex sting inducements wrong in many ways or can you or anyone show in the bible how this is right to induce on another. I would even be glad to take notice in this two wrongs don’t make a right or should we all be bank robbers. One wonders if Paul in the bible was a hard case or who goes to far in true American Justice today. Talk about the psychology of this sex offender ordeal today.
I am absolutely speechless. Speechless.
Did NMDOC put them on a train to get there? this is horrible!!!!!
We can never be thought of as humans, but only as monsters forever.
Yet all the stats say we’re a low recidivist group. Instead, the laws says it’s okay to oppress us legally. Civil rights are only reserved for humans, not monsters. ::: sighs :::
Politicians and law enforcement are the true monsters in society. Maybe they should take a good look in the mirror and say they aren’t the fairest of them all. Any politician that committed sexual harassment or worse has a taxpayer funded to keep their victims quiet; while law enforcement the victims of their sexual abuse get swept under the rug. A lot of moms raised fools that went into government. When will they listen? When they get in the only place they care… their pockets!!
The act and totality of being labeled a “sex offender” by the government is a form of indirect genocide, they’re just using Covid-19 to expedite things!
Not punitive? Ha! It’s like being forced (at gun-point) to walk a tightrope over a lake of lava with no balancing pole or safety net.
Justice was meant to be applied equally and impartially. Sex offense cases are a kink in that balance.
“Moral turpitude”
It rolled on like a snow ball until it got out of control. Now nobody wants to deal with the mess they made.
Common sense isn’t really common in people anymore. I wonder if politicians would of done the right thing; if they had not taken the fast lane in passing useless laws built on fear, lies, and emotions. Easy to make a hornets nest; but it’s a risk to knock it down. On the hand numerous stings might remind them they are not God.