Latest news with #ACLU-NM
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Yahoo
Incarcerated New Mexicans challenge solitary confinement
O'Shay Toney and GuJuan Fusilier, two of the three men held in the Penitentiary of New Mexico who are challenging the prison's use of solitary confinement. (Photos courtesy of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico) Three New Mexicans held at the maximum-security state prison in Santa Fe are challenging the New Mexico prison system's use of solitary confinement, not just for them but for anyone else and those who might be subjected to it in the future. Through their attorneys, three men on Thursday filed a complaint for class relief against the prison itself, the New Mexico Corrections Department and so far unidentified defendants who will be named later. O'Shay Toney, GuJuan Fusilier and Mah-konce Hudson allege the prison system has an unlawful and constitutional policy and practice 'of subjecting hundreds of New Mexicans annually to prolonged periods of solitary confinement as a form of punishment for violating prison rules.' On Thursday, the First Judicial District Court in Santa Fe assigned the case to Judge Matthew Wilson. 'We don't comment on pending litigation,' Corrections Department Spokesperson Brittany Roembach told Source NM in a statement. The Corrections Department denies it uses solitary, with Roembach instead referring to it as 'restrictive housing.' 'To be clear, solitary confinement does not exist in the NMCD system,' she said. 'We utilize restrictive housing, like the Predatory Behavior Management Program (PBMP), to fix behaviors.' In response to Source's questions, Roembach shared a copy of the prison system's policy governing the program, which states that its purpose is to 'reduce predatory behavior' among incarcerated people. ACLU-NM Managing Attorney Lalita Moskowitz told Source NM in an interview it's a very common practice for prison officials to use euphemisms for solitary confinement. Prison reform advocates in New Mexico have said previously that the program is one example of the department putting a different label on solitary confinement. In the complaint, the incarcerated people allege that the program uses solitary as punishment and guards use arbitrary and inconsistent criteria to put people in it. Under the program, the men have 'spent months, and in many cases, years of their lives locked in tiny, barren cells for 23 hours per day or more as supposed punishment for violating prison rules,' the complaint states. If Judge Wilson finds that allegation to be true, that would be a violation of the state's 2019 Restricted Housing Act, which defines 'restrictive housing' as confinement of a person in a locked cell or similar living quarters for 22 or more hours each day without daily, meaningful and sustained human interaction. Lawmakers to consider more limits on solitary confinement in prisons and jails There are 147 people in the program at PNM, according to Roembach. ACLU-NM estimates that 400 people have been held in solitary over the last three years. The policy also requires that prison officials provide mental health and psychiatric treatment to people in the program, however, the complaint alleges, 'In reality, PBMP is a long-term solitary confinement unit that offers little in the way of programming or preparation.' Both Fusilier and Toney suffer from 'severe mental illness,' the complaint states, and Hudson was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder because of trauma from being in long-term solitary. Fusiler said in a statement that he's begged for help with his anger, anxiety and PTSD and prison officials have allegedly responded with isolation and rejection. 'This so-called program offered NOTHING it promised,' he said. 'This place doesn't provide growth or positive change for our lives, no matter how loud our cries for help are. It feels like the people running it don't care about the success of my life. Instead, they keep us pinned down and oppressed.' While in solitary, Toney alleges he is unable to privately or consistently speak with a mental health professional. Hudson 'fears being overmedicated' in solitary and can't access the care he needs because he has no privacy or ability to communicate with providers, the complaint states. Prison officials have also allegedly prohibited Toney from using technology, making phone calls or accessing the commissary, his property or recreation time, the complaint states. Hudson said in a statement long-term solitary 'turns anger into hate, eliminates coping mechanisms, leaving only survival tactics, and exacerbates existing mental health issues into debilitating anxiety and paranoia.' 'It teaches isolation rather than connection, leaving people ill-equipped for social environments whether in general population or upon release to society,' he said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
18-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Immigration attorneys file complaint about ICE raids in NM
Mar. 17—SANTA FE — Earlier this month, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 48 undocumented immigrants in New Mexico. Immigrant rights advocates and attorneys still don't know the names or locations of those individuals. A coalition of advocacy groups held a news conference Monday morning at the Capitol to announce a complaint the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico filed with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security over the weekend regarding the arrests and lack of information. They also urged state legislators to pass two immigration-related bills, one that would end civil immigration detainment in New Mexico, House Bill 9, and another barring the use of state resources for the enforcement of federal immigration arrests or detainment, Senate Bill 250. ICE, along with other federal agencies like the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in early March held a weeklong "enhanced enforcement operation" in Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Roswell, resulting in the arrests of 48 immigrants in the country unlawfully, 20 of whom had criminal charges or convictions, according to ICE. On March 16, ACLU-NM interim executive director Leon Howard and senior staff attorney Rebecca Sheff filed a complaint, which the ACLU shared with the Journal, about the operation to the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman, both of which are under the purview of DHS. The complaint included four requests: an investigation into the 48 arrests; ensuring the physical and psychological well-being of the arrested individuals; ensuring the arrested individuals are not retaliated against as a result of the complaint; and pursuing accountability for all involved personnel and contractors. "We don't know what's happened to these four dozen New Mexicans. They've effectively disappeared," Sheff said at the news conference. She said advocacy organizations — ACLU-NM, Somos un Pueblo Unido and New Mexico Immigrant Law Center — haven't encountered the unnamed 48 individuals in the ICE detention facilities in New Mexico and are unsure if the arrested immigrants are still in the U.S. She said DHS hadn't notified ACLU that it had received the complaint, as the complaint requested, as of Monday morning. Twenty-one of the arrested individuals have final orders of removal, according to ICE. "These arrests exemplify the type of criminals living among us and highlight ICE's commitment to our agency's primary mission — protect public safety," said Mary De Anda-Ybarra, enforcement and removal operations field office director in El Paso, in a statement on March 12. ICE didn't immediately respond to an inquiry from the Journal asking for the names and detainment locations of the arrested individuals or, alternatively, a reason for the anonymity. Meanwhile, legislative efforts related to immigration rights are inching along in the Roundhouse. But with less than a week left in the session, time is running out to get bills to the governor's desk. House Bill 9, the Immigrant Safety Act, is waiting for a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee and has already passed the House. Senate Bill 250, prohibiting state agencies from using resources to enforce federal immigration laws, is sitting on the Senate calendar and still needs to pass the House of Representatives. Despite the looming Saturday session deadline, advocates noted that there's still time. "People in our community are gone," said Marcela Díaz, founding executive director of Somos un Pueblo Unido. "Workers are gone. Family members are gone. Neighbors are gone. ... We have to be more bold in protecting our communities."
