Every citizen is entitled to the use of the court system for the protection of his or her rights. This includes and generally necessitates contacts with attorneys. Prisoners have the same First, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments rights to access to the courts and attorneys. In the case of prisoners with serious medical conditions, access to…
New Mexico Injury Attorney Blog
Medical Torture in New Mexico Prisons
The right to be free of inhumane denial of medical care as well as the provision of medical care in a cruel and inhumane manner are addressed by numerous international human rights treaties including: “article 25 (1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR); article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and…
Solitary Confinement by any name is Solitary Confinement
The New Mexico Corrections Department (NMCD) has engaged in something of a shell game around the topic of solitary confinement. Specifically, they seem to believe that by referring to the practice as placement in a Restrictive Housing Unit (RHU), somehow no one will notice, and all will be fooled. We noticed, and solitary confinement by…
Investors and Banks Dump Private Prison Industry, New Mexico Sticks Embraces It
There have been a number of stories over the last few years surrounding the abuses of immigrant detainees in private prison facilities. The coverage has shown a level of cruelty within this industry that most people could not have imagined. Even banks and investors, not known to be particularly moral themselves, have found the behavior…
New Mexico Prison Osteomyelitis Epidemic Spells Medical Negligence
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…
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)….