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. An article in the…
New Mexico Injury Attorney Blog
Guards and Inmates Both Locked Away and Forgotten
Most of the discussion surrounding our broken prison system revolves around the abuse of the rights of inmates. Collins & Collins, P.C. has commented on these matters numerous times. More often than not, what is lost in the discussion is the systemic neglect, abuse and harm suffered by guards as a result of that same…
Train, Pay and Staff Guards to Reflect the Importance of the Job
“Behind Bars, Rookie Season” is an A&E series depicting the lives of new correctional officers in the New Mexico prisons. There is scene in one episode that shows some of the training. It is worth noting because NMCD was proud enough of the lunacy to allow it to be filmed. The training officer basically tells…
How in the World Did New Mexico Corrections Department Lose Accreditation from These Folks?
The New Mexico Corrections Department (NMCD) Central New Mexico Correctional Facility (CNMCF) lost American Correctional Association (ACA) accreditation from 2016 to January 14, 2019. This is remarkable considering the makeup of the ACA’s Executive Committee and Board of Governors. ACA’s Executive Committee current membership is made up entirely of correctional professionals that have spent their…
Understaffing in New Mexico Prisons Contributes to Inmate Suicides
Prison Suicide Prevention Standards, Policies and Procedures New Mexico Corrections Department (NMCD) policies for the prevention of suicide presumably follow the policies and standards set forth by the American Corrections Association (ACA) and the National Commission on Correctional Health Care (NCCHC). It is not clear from at all from a review of NMCD ACA and…
Trucking Accidents: File Suit, Ask Questions Later
In most personal injury matters, it is typically wise to conduct as much informal discovery as possible prior to filing suit. Informal discovery includes the collection of such things as police reports, witness statements, photos of the scene and so on. Formal discovery is what occurs once litigation is commenced (i.e. a lawsuit is filed)….
Civil Conspiracy to Harm Immigrant Detainees
The title might seem to suggest a conspiracy theory is coming. It’s not, although active imaginations could come up many plausible conspiracies at the border. This article is not that. Instead, this article is about legal claims/lawsuits for civil conspiracy against those perpetrating the human rights abuses at the border. Immunity of Government Actors to…
Atrocities at the Border: Follow the Money
A report was issued on July 2, 2019 by the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Homeland Security. The Report is entitled “Management Alert – DHS Needs to Address Dangerous Overcrowding and Prolonged Detention of Children and Adults in the Rio Grande Valley (Redacted)”. The report may be found here at least…
Medical Crisis in Immigrant Detention Facilities
The crisis at the border is well documented. So, too, are the atrocities that are routinely committed by ICE and CBP on the refugees seeking asylum in the U.S. There is no need to rehash those here. Instead, we will focus on something that is not getting as much attention as it deserves, the medical…
Emergency Medical Care and Emergency Transport in New Mexico’s Prisons
In a recent article from Prison Legal News entitled, “New Mexico Court Denies Motion to Dismiss Lawsuit Over Policy of Denying Transport to Medical Appointments During Lockdowns”, yet another series of systemic flaws in the medical care of New Mexico Corrections Department (NMCD) inmates are highlighted. The article explains the systemic failures to appropriately deal…