Officials ID woman who died 48 hours after being booked into Bernalillo County jail

Yahoo

4 days ago

May 31—In November 2020, Estelle Quintero was cited for trying to steal $27 worth of shampoo from an Albertsons grocery store. When she missed a scheduled court appearance days later, a warrant was issued for her arrest.
The 45-year-old woman died Wednesday morning at the Metropolitan Detention Center, 48 hours after being arrested on two warrants, both for missing court, tied to the petty misdemeanor and child support hearings.
MDC spokeswoman Candace Hopkins on Saturday identified Quintero as the person who had died, her family having been notified. She said an autopsy will determine a cause of death.
The incident is being investigated by MDC and the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office.
Hopkins said Quintero was booked into jail Monday at 6 a.m. She was "discovered unresponsive" Wednesday morning at 5:30 a.m.
"MDC staff, alongside the (University of New Mexico) Hospital medical team, swiftly responded and began administering life-saving measures," Hopkins said. "Despite these efforts, Quintero was pronounced deceased at 5:48 a.m."
Hopkins gave no other details.
Katherine Loewe, who represents incarcerated people in MDC's reform settlement, said she was told by inmates that Quintero had been banging on her cell "asking for help" through the night. Loewe said the inmates told her an MDC corrections officer told Quintero to "be quiet and go to sleep."
Court records show Quintero has been in and out of jail for decades on property and drug-related crimes. Loewe said she was placed on detox watch when she was booked into MDC on Monday, having been arrested by Albuquerque police.
Quintero was the seventh person to die at MDC or die after being injured or falling ill at the facility in the past six months and the 36th such death since 2020. The majority of those who have died were detoxing at the time.
The jail's daily population has been on the rise in recent months as several agencies — including Albuquerque police, the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office and New Mexico State Police — conduct simultaneous crime operations, mainly focused on East Central, targeting people with warrants and open-air drug use.
In January, 1,840 people were booked into MDC, and in April, there were 2,062 bookings, according to a dashboard on the MDC population. Currently, almost half of those behind bars at the jail are considered "transient."
"We're in this time when the city is touting that they're rounding up everyone with warrants and making the city safer," Loewe said. "And in this case... they rounded up somebody with a five-year-old shoplifting warrant for less than $30 worth of soap, and took her to jail, where she died within 48 hours."