Governor Susana Martinez’s administration is not responding to questions from the Santa Fe New Mexican, which on Sunday printed a damning report on problems with healthcare for prison inmates and a lack of oversight. The report found that Corizon Health of Tennessee – the private company responsible for prisoner health care in New Mexico – faces 150 lawsuits alleging negligent care, sexual abuse and civil rights violations. Department employees and the state auditor have warned the state about a lack of contract auditing of Corizon’s operations. The company won’t say how much it has paid to settle any of those cases, in response to requests from the New Mexican, and it is bidding to continue serving the corrections department when its current contract expires next month. Corizon is responsible for the state’s 7,000 inmates’ healthcare needs.
In other news about the state’s Department of Corrections: the state’s plan to fire the three prison guards in charge of two inmates who escaped while being transported across New Mexico last month has been rescinded. Earlier this month, according to the New Mexican, corrections officials said the three officers who’d been placed on leave, had failed to follow security protocols when they had stopped at a gas station, and the two men, Lionel Clah and Joseph Cruz, managed to get out of shackles and hitch a ride to Albuquerque. Their escape went unnoticed for six hours. The New Mexican also reports that Joseph Cruz’s aunt, Felice Maes, has been arrested and charged with aiding a felon and assisting the men’s escape. She reportedly picked them up at an Albuquerque hotel and took them to an apartment on March 10th. She’s in jail on a $25,000 cash-only bond.
A new nonprofit organization hopes to attract some of New Mexico's growing film industry to southern New Mexico. The Las Cruces Sun-News reports that Film Las Cruces has recently launched a website and is searching for a new film liaison. State Rep. Jeff Steinborn, Film Las Cruces president, says the group wants to build a film and entertainment arts workforce in the area to attract future productions. Under an agreement, the city of Las Cruces will pay $95,000 per year for three years to allow Film Las Cruces to employ a full-time film liaison and run a film office to work with production companies. In recent years, studios have launched a number of productions in Albuquerque and Santa Fe including AMC-TV's "Better Call Saul" and Netflix's "Longmire."
A Los Angeles woman who acknowledged carrying more 1 ½ pounds of cocaine into a bus station in Albuquerque has pleaded guilty to a drug charge. Niesha Necole Williams pleaded guilty Monday in federal court in Albuquerque to a charge of possession with intent to distribute cocaine. Williams acknowledged possessing the cocaine in May. Authorities say the bundle of cocaine was hidden under her clothes.
The Republican Party of New Mexico is keeping the door open for national delegate applications amid a push by the Donald Trump campaign to mobilize supporters. A spokesman for the New Mexico GOP said Monday that self-nominations to participate in the Republican National Convention will be considered for two weeks beyond the April 15 deadline. New Mexico's 24 delegates will be free to back any candidate if no one secures the nomination in the first round. New Mexico delegates initially are bound to follow voter preferences among candidates that win at least 15 percent of the vote on June 7. Republican state lawmaker and Cruz supporter Rod Montoya criticized efforts to extend the deadline. The national delegate director for Trump says all the campaigns are grateful for the extension.
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on whether federal felony charges can be filed against defendants who were previously convicted of multiple domestic violence counts in tribal courts that didn't provide attorneys. The case set to be heard Tuesday marks a critical test for tribal courts — particularly those without the money to hire public defenders — at a time when Congress has begun broadening federal authority to prosecute violent crimes in Indian Country. In domestic violence cases, a decade-old law has sought to combat high assault rates on reservations by transferring cases involving offenders with multiple convictions to the federal courts for possible stiffer punishments. That statute is being challenged on the contention that defendants must be guaranteed counsel in tribal courts if their cases are ultimately grounds for stiffer penalties in U.S. courts.
A New Mexico Republican congressman is attempting a solo flight around the world to honor war veterans. The Hobbs News-Sun Newspaper reports that U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce has nearly completed a worldwide expedition but his plane was sitting in a hangar in Spain this weekend while waiting for the weather to improve. The 68-year-old began the planned 16-day trip on March 27, departing in his 1998 Mooney M20M Bravo from Las Vegas, New Mexico. The original 21-leg flight plan had Pearce flying West to Hawaii through Asia on to the Arabian Peninsula then to Spain, Portugal, and eventually back to the U.S. In Thailand, he left a memorial for veterans made by the Isleta Pueblo, one of 19 American Indian pueblos in New Mexico.
An exhibit on the famed Titanic is coming to eastern New Mexico. The Hobbs News-Sun reports that artifacts from the doomed cruise will be on display at the Western Heritage Museum and Lea County Cowboy Hall of Fame beginning in July. "Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition" is scheduled for July 28-Nov. 6 at the museum on the New Mexico Junior College campus. The museum's exhibition will showcase personal belongings and pieces belonging to the ill-fated Titanic. Visitors to the exhibition will see pieces of the ship, the china from which its first-class passengers ate, and clothing, shoes, and other items that belonged to the 2,223 passengers and crew members on board.
The vast majority of immigrant children arriving at the U.S. border alone are placed with adults who are in the country illegally. That's according to federal data reviewed by The Associated Press. The government has long said it places the children with family and friends regardless of immigration status. But since more children began arriving on the border in 2014, officials have not revealed how often those sponsors lack legal papers.