Due to the rate of one juvenile detention facility closing in each of the past five years, only 228 beds remain in the entire state of New Mexico, according to a recent report from the Legislative Health and Human Services Committee. As a result, youth offenders are increasingly having to be detained hundreds of miles away from their homes.
For example, the facility in Otero County just extended its contract with the San Juan County facility – nearly 500 miles away and about eight hours by car – to house their juveniles through June 30, 2020, according to the Alamogordo Daily News.
The Associated Press reports that New Mexico Supreme Court Justice Barbara Vigil told lawmakers last month that it is time to find ways to keep detained youths near their homes, “while helping counties in finding ways to meet the high cost of 24-hour detention.”
One option Vigil suggested was to explore cost-sharing between different levels of government, including potential regional detention centers, according to the AP. The six New Mexico counties with juvenile detention facilities spent $16.5 million in 2019 to operate those facilities.
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