Latest news with #BrittanyRoembach
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Corrections Department open-records violations costly to taxpayers, suit alleges
Apr. 7—Open-records lawsuits against the New Mexico Corrections Department have cost the state at least $365,000 in settlement costs, a government transparency watchdog alleges in a new lawsuit. The suit, filed this month by the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government (NMFOG), asks a judge to compel the Corrections Department to reveal how much money the agency has paid for violations of the state Inspection of Public Records Act. The 22-page lawsuit, filed Tuesday in 1st Judicial District Court in Santa Fe, alleges the agency that operates the state's prisons has been the target of at least nine successful lawsuits since 2020 for failing to comply with the state's open-records law. Brittany Roembach, a spokeswoman for NMCD, said in a text message Wednesday that the agency would have no comment about the suit. The action stemmed from public records requests made by NMFOG in April 2024 seeking financial records showing settlement amounts and damage awards paid by the agency to resolve lawsuits filed under IPRA. The request also sought payments made to lawyers who represent the Corrections Department to contest IPRA lawsuits. Both requests sought records from January 2021 through April 3, 2024. David Pardo, NMCD's general counsel, responded in April 2024 that the agency has "no records" about settlement amounts or payments to outside law firms. Pardo referred FOG to another state agency. The suit alleges that "it is inconceivable that (NMCD) would not possess these records. Records of settlement agreements, for example, are drafted and exchanged by the parties, and ultimately would have been approved" by NMCD. The suit also alleges that NMCD has shown a pattern of failing to respond to public records requests, resulting in a series of costly lawsuits at the expense of taxpayers. The American Civil Liberties Union has filed at least seven lawsuits against the Corrections Department in the past three years alleging IPRA violations, resulting in $200,000 in settlement costs, the suit said. Among them, NMCD last year paid $38,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by the ACLU seeking records regarding the use of inmate labor to manufacture products. In another case, the agency paid $70,000 last year to settle a lawsuit filed by Disability Rights New Mexico seeking records about the confiscation of illegal drugs in New Mexico prisons, according to the FOG lawsuit. The suit alleges that those actions "are the tip of the iceberg of the actual number of successful IPRA enforcement actions" against the New Mexico Corrections Department. The suit seeks unspecified damages and asks a judge to issue an injunction to ensure NMCD's compliance with the open-records laws.
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Yahoo
New Mexico transparency group sues Corrections Department
Detail of the New Mexico Corrections Department logo painted on a wall inside the Western New Mexico Correctional Facility. (Photo by Austin Fisher / Source NM) The New Mexico Foundation for Open Government on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against the state Corrections Department for violations of New Mexico's public records law. In the suit, the Albuquerque-based nonprofit NMFOG alleges both specific and ongoing violations by NMCD of the Inspection of Public Records Act, citing at least nine successful lawsuits against the agency resulting in $365,000 worth of damages and fees paid by the state. But it's not your typical lawsuit trying to get a court to force a government agency to fork over some records — NMFOG wants a judge to declare that the Corrections Department must respect the public's right to inspect records now and in the future. The suit stems from FOG's IPRA request in 2024 for three years' worth of NMCD financial records showing settlement amounts paid out after IPRA lawsuits. The department denied that request. The new suit asks the court to require the agency to produce those records, and to explain which records it withheld in another request. Moreover, the organization is asking the court to issue an order requiring Corrections to comply with the state law going forward and alleges the department 'has a history, practice and pattern of failing to comply' with IPRA and continues to do so despite losing in court time and time again. The complaint details legal settlements paid using public funds by the department in response to IPRA suits brought over the last three years by the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico, Disability Rights New Mexico and a formerly incarcerated person. In an email to Source NM on Tuesday afternoon, Corrections Department Spokesperson Brittany Roembach declined to comment on pending litigation. The complaint describes the prior lawsuits it cites as 'the tip of the iceberg of the actual number of successful IPRA enforcement actions against' the department, and does not capture all of its IPRA violations. Indeed, the New Mexico Prison and Jail Project has filed four other lawsuits against the department in the last five years over allegations of withholding records based on internal policies or withholding records until sued, according to court records. NMFOG says in the complaint an injunction 'is the only adequate remedy,' because requiring them to pay money for violating the law won't stop them from doing it in the future. NMFOG also points out that the New Mexico Court of Appeals ruled last May in a suit by the ACLU-NM seeking documents about the department's use of force policies, that the department's policies or rules 'cannot be used to exempt public records from inspection under IPRA.' That ruling 'has also failed to deter Defendant NMCD from persisting in hiding behind its internal rules to unlawfully shield public records,' the complaint states. The department appealed the ruling to the New Mexico Supreme Court, which on Sept. 6, 2024 agreed to hear the case, according to court records. The case has not yet been scheduled for argument at the Supreme Court. In the complaint, NMFOG insists that the appeals court ruling is still good law, even though the Supreme Court has agreed to review it, because the Supreme Court hasn't nullified the lower court's ruling in any way.
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Yahoo
Flung guns: Inmates find more pistols while cleaning up New Mexico highways
Mar. 19—Some gun owners apparently haven't gotten wind of Toss No Mas. A total of four firearms have been found by prisoners cleaning up trash on highways across New Mexico this year — under tumbleweeds and hanging on a fence post. Two of the handguns were discovered by inmate work crews in the past several days, one on Interstate 40 in Cibola County and another on Interstate 25 in Valencia County. They were found less than two months after inmates found two handguns alongside I-25 near the Santo Domingo Pueblo exit. The discoveries came as the New Mexico Corrections Department has more than quadrupled the number of inmate crews and clean-ups. In the past there was one crew doing four cleanups a week, but this year there are five crews picking up trash 22 times weekly, according to spokeswoman Brittany Roembach. The department, in a Facebook post, said in each case the inmates reported the guns to corrections officers, and the firearms were turned over to law enforcement. The more recent incident occurred Monday, when inmates from the Los Lunas prison found an unloaded 9mm pistol along I-25 near Los Lunas, the department said. "The inmate who located the firearm immediately alerted the supervising corrections officer, who secured all inmates in the work vehicle," according to the post. The inmates were interviewed and searched once back at the prison. The gun was turned over to New Mexico State Police. Amanda Richards, a State Police spokesperson, said, "Due to its condition, it has not yet been confirmed if it was stolen." "The gun was severely rusted and weathered, having appeared to be there for several years," she said. The Corrections Department said days earlier, on March 13, a four-inmate work crew from a Grants prison discovered a loaded 9mm handgun "hanging from a barbed wire fence" along I-40 southeast of Grants. "The supervising corrections officer immediately secured the firearm and ensured the safety of the inmate work crew," according to the post. The firearm was seized by the Cibola County Sheriff's Office. "Upon their return to the facility, the inmates were thoroughly searched, resulting in no additional findings," the department said.
