Latest news with #NewMexicoJusticeReinvestmentWorkingGroup
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Police, lawmakers pitch changes to reentry for people leaving prison or jail
An APD prisoner transport vehicle sits in front of the Bernalillo County Public Safety Center in Downtown Albuquerque in late August, 2021. (Photo by Shelby Kleinhans for Source NM) Almost everyone who goes to prison in New Mexico will return home at some point, but the support provided to them on their way out depends largely on where they were incarcerated. That conclusion comes from a report published by the New Mexico Justice Reinvestment Working Group last November. In state prisons, New Mexico Corrections Department policy establishes that each prison form its own reentry committee, and members of those committees say reentry planning depends on whether someone is being released under state supervision. In county jails, reentry practices depend on local priorities and available resources, the report found, because not all jails staff positions that are devoted to reentry planning. In an attempt to fill this gap, a legislative proposal, Senate Bill 54, would consolidate and standardize reentry practices across the state, rather than rely on the existing patchwork of differing policies. In an interview with Source NM, San Juan County Sheriff's Capt. Kevin Burns, who chairs the working group, said its 19 recommendations to state lawmakers focus on reframing substance use disorder and mental health issues away from the criminal legal system and into the healthcare system. He said the largest share of criminal sentences impact people with convictions for third- and fourth-degree felonies, most of which are drug-related. 'Once you start to get those individuals plugged in with resources, then it allows law enforcement to then focus more on violent offenders,' Burns said. Burns said police are overwhelmed by calls for help related to property crimes, drug use and mental health issues. The report notes that the overall crisis call volume in New Mexico increased by 73% between May 2022 and May 2024, with most of those calls dealing with suicide or substance use. SB54 is sponsored by Sen. Katy Duhigg and Rep. Janelle Anyanonu, both Albuquerque Democrats and members of the working group. The bill is the result of 'the majority of the policies that came out of' the working group's meetings, Duhigg told the Senate Judiciary Committee in January. The bill adds two new duties to the New Mexico Sentencing Commission, a research institute at the University of New Mexico created in 2003. The first, Duhigg said, requires the Sentencing Commission to coordinate reentry efforts for people being released from prisons and jails; foster collaboration among stakeholder groups working on reentry issues; and establish minimum standards for reentry, including pre-release assessments, behavioral and physical health continuum of care, employment, housing and basic needs. 'We want to have statewide standards that, when people are being released, are going to set them up to be productive members of our communities, rather than folks who are going to be unproductive members who go right back into detention,' Duhigg said. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE The bill also requires the commission to create a public crime data dashboard on its website in conjunction with the state Department of Public Safety. Making the Sentencing Commission a central repository of data is another important part of the working group's recommendations, Burns said. The Senate Judiciary Committee on Feb. 28 voted 6-3 along party lines to pass a substitute version of SB54, with Republicans in opposition. The legislation awaits a hearing in the Senate Finance Committee. At the suggestion of the New Mexico Association of Counties, the substitute requires county jails to provide medication-assisted treatment (MAT) to incarcerated people experiencing withdrawal, Duhigg told the committee. It also makes the requirement contingent on local, state or federal funding. Duhigg said counties need money to start MAT in jails where it isn't already being provided. According to Duhigg, the state tasked the Crime and Justice Institute, an offshoot of the federal Department of Justice, with helping to develop data-based public safety policy, and they convened the working group. Burns said some other bills going through the Roundhouse this session have similar goals around recidivism, including House Bill 514, which would require the Corrections Department to implement a system of graduated sanctions as alternatives to incarceration for parole violations. The working group report states that in 2022, approximately half of community supervision violations occurred within the first four months of release from prison or jail. Burns said more staff at drug courts in New Mexico, along with appropriate monitoring and accountability of defendants, could help prevent them from returning to jail. 'That's where we feel like our recidivism is coming from,' Burns said. 'We would really like to see these individuals receive skills training so that when they re-enter society, they've got different skill sets on top of a more tailored and more structured approach to support them, to prevent recidivism.' HB514 was scheduled for a hearing in the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee on Tuesday. Burns said New Mexico's high crime rate isn't just a criminal justice issue, but also a socioeconomic one. 'It's going to take our communities to help individuals avoid being involved with substance abuse, to avoid them going down that road of property crime to support their drug habit,' Burns said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Behavioral health overhaul picking up steam at Roundhouse
Feb. 4—SANTA FE — New Mexico lawmakers' push to overhaul the state's mental health and substance abuse treatment system is creating unlikely political bedfellows but still faces a long road to approval. During a Senate committee hearing this week, the chamber's Democratic and Republican floor leaders — Peter Wirth of Santa Fe and William Sharer of Farmington — sat together on the dais to present one of the three bills in a behavioral health package. Several other top Republicans and Democrats are teaming up to carry the other two bills. "Things are getting worse, not better," Sharer said during a Tuesday interview. "So this is it." He said the seeds for the bipartisan approach were planted during interim committee meetings last summer and were sparked by a shared desire to remodel a fragmented and largely ineffective state behavioral health system. Behavioral health has emerged as a key issue during this year's 60-day legislative session as lawmakers look for ways to reduce homelessness, drug use and violent crime. A recent report by the New Mexico Justice Reinvestment Working Group found that 65% of individuals who enter the state's criminal justice system have a behavioral health need that they are not receiving treatment for. In addition, New Mexico has one of the nation's highest suicide rates, and more than one-third of state residents reported anxiety or a depressive disorder in 2023, according to Kaiser Family Foundation data. Sharer and other backers say the proposed package would increase accountability by requiring regional plans outlining priorities for providing mental health and substance abuse treatment. A new $1 billion trust fund would provide at least $50 million of annual funding to support the regional plans, which would largely be overseen by the state's judiciary. "This is a huge, huge amount of money, but also a huge accountability piece," Sharer told the Journal. While the state is projected to spend roughly $1.1 billion on behavioral health programs in the current budget year, the state's behavioral health collaborative has not met in over one year and does not have an appointed director. How the bipartisan package came about Adrian Avila, the chief of staff for the Senate Finance Committee, was tasked with taking the lead on crafting the package after a special session called last summer by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham ended with the Democratic-controlled Legislature declining to take up most of the governor's crime-focused agenda. Avila described the package that grew out of countless meetings and negotiations as a "bottom-up" approach to tackling mental health and drug abuse issues across the state. "We're creating an entire ecosystem here," he said during a Tuesday meeting of the Senate Finance Committee. Avila traveled to Miami last year, along with behavioral health advocates, to tour a Miami-Dade County diversion program that has drawn accolades for its success. He said the "Miami model" would not be totally feasible in New Mexico, however, since the state's population is not as densely concentrated. Under the proposed legislation, the new model would put the state judiciary in charge of planning while leaving the state Health Care Authority largely in charge of overseeing funding. That would be a significant change from the current system, which largely falls under the executive branch's jurisdiction. "Right now, we've been flying blind," Avila said. For his part, Wirth said it's imperative the courts receive sufficient funding to carry out implementation of the region-based approach. "They've been willing to step up and we have to make darn sure they have the resources to do it," he said during a committee hearing this week. Bills could move quickly to governor's desk The package of behavioral health bills has already passed its first Senate committee and could hit the chamber floor by as early as next week. Wirth has expressed optimism the package could reach the governor's desk by the midpoint of the 60-day session, which is Feb. 20. But despite the bipartisan support, not all lawmakers are fully on board with the proposed package. Sen. Larry Scott, a Hobbs Republican, cast the lone "no" vote against the bill in the Senate Health and Public Affairs Committee and said he remains concerned about accountability safeguards. "I remain skeptical that this approach is going to be successful because I don't see a single responsible agency," he said. In addition, the Governor's Office is still evaluating the package of bills and has not yet taken a formal position, Lujan Grisham spokesman Michael Coleman said Tuesday. But the Health Care Authority raised several issues with one of the bills in a legislative analysis, saying it could "fragment" oversight and funding authority for the state's behavioral health system. Meanwhile, at least some efforts to expand treatment options are already in the works in New Mexico. Clovis Mayor Mike Morris told senators Tuesday that a group of eastern New Mexico cities and counties are set to move forward with building a new crisis triage center on an 18-acre site near the Plains Regional Medical Center. The facility would provide temporary beds for individuals dealing with mental illness or substance abuse issues to be housed before a treatment program could be determined. Under the current system, he said most such individuals either end up in local hospital emergency rooms or in jails. "That obviously is not as good as we think we can do," Morris told members of the Senate Finance Committee.
