NM Sentencing Procedure to Benefit Taxpayers
The new sentencing procedure implemented by Judge James W. Counts will not only benefit taxpayers, but also offenders waiting to be transferred to a state correctional facility. Reported in the Alamogordo Daily News.
In the past, the Otero County Detention Center has had an inmate population of over 200 inmates on any given day.
Judge Counts recently said as of April 13 there were 183 inmates housed at the detention center compared to 224 inmates on March 12.
Counts is trying a new administrative procedure to speed up the process of delivering sentencing orders to OCDC officials for inmates who are being housed at the facility after they’ve been convicted of a crime in his courtroom. It could save county taxpayers an estimated $1,440 per inmate being housed at the detention center.
The procedure is in its infancy.
In the past, the administrative procedure for the court is to sentence a person convicted of a crime. The person is then transported to the detention center, where officials have to wait for a certified transfer order to take the inmate to a facility within the New Mexico Department of Corrections. It could take up to three weeks for OCDC officials to get the transfer orders.
Counts has been trying to reduce the wait time on transfer orders to three days, which would bring down the housing cost for inmates to $240 for the county. He has additionally proposed a real time sentencing procedure, which could bring the cost down to zero.
The reduced wait for transfer time would not only benefit taxpayers but also benefit convicted offenders and OCDC officials. The detention center has a capacity to house 200 inmates. It does have the capability to move overflow to facilities in Baylor, Texas, and the Otero County Correctional facility in Chaparral.
Detention Center Services director Virginia Blansett said she was thrilled when Counts contacted her about the new procedure.
“It’s frustrating for us to wait three weeks or more for the orders,” Blansett said. “We’re usually over 200 inmates at the center at any given time. We can keep the inmates safe. It just makes it a bad environment. We also want them to be safe.”
She said it’s not only frustrating for staff but also frustrating for the inmates.
“I can’t give the inmates any credit for good time,” Blansett said. “Good time credit has to be ordered by a judge. They don’t get good time credit until they get to the Department of Corrections.”
She said the new procedure is a benefit to the taxpayers, inmates, detention center official and the court.
The Department of Corrections gives nonviolent incarcerated offenders one day of good time credit per every day served in a facility.
New Mexico Department of Corrections Classification Bureau Chief Jeff Serna said a nonviolent offender sentenced to four years in DOC for a nonviolent offense can get 30 days of good time credit after serving 30 days.
“The inmate has to have no misconducts during the 30 days,” Serna said. “The inmate has to be in a therapeutic program, or worked in the corrections industry program or be assigned to work.”
The good time credit of a day for a day is for nonviolent offenders, Serna said. Violent offenders have to serve 85 percent of their sentences before accumulating any good time credit.
“All the good time credits are governed by New Mexico state statute,” he said. “Our credits are applied to inmates convicted and sentenced after July 1, 1999.”
DOC has inmates serving under two different good time statutes. An offender sentenced for first-degree murder will not be eligible for good time credit.
Diana Martwick, 12th Judicial District Attorney, said she is excited about the new sentencing procedure.
“We anticipate that this will assist us in saving local taxpayer money for defendants who are incarcerated in our local detention centers,” Martwick said.
She said once the defendant is sentenced and the judgment and sentence is entered, the defendant can be transported to the Department of Corrections, which is a burden that is then shared by all the taxpayers in the entire state instead of just the county.
Defense attorney James Walker said he is in favor of the new sentencing procedure.
“I think it’s probably helpful for the defendants jailed at the OCDC and going to the penitentiary to have their sentencing order done as quickly as possible,” Walker said. “It would help the person specifically going to the penitentiary to start getting good time credit.”
Counts said he realizes the procedure is based on the fact that technology has advanced in recent years.
“There was a time when we couldn’t have done it,” Counts said. “Twenty years ago, we couldn’t have somebody in the court typing away on a Selectric typewriter. It just would not have made any sense. I think the technology has changed to the point that it’s something we can do.”
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