Las Cruces, NM—On Tuesday, October 13, multi-faith leaders and clergy from NM Comunidades en Accion y de Fe (CAFé) were joined by over 100 residents from Las Cruces and Doña Ana at their Faith & Families Summit at Peace Lutheran Church. CAFé’s faith leaders asked elected officials “Do You See Me?” as they shared their lived experiences supporting loved ones navigating the criminal justice system, living with mental health issues, and experiencing exclusion due to immigration status. Summit attendees were asked to show their faith and love in action by calling on elected officials to act immediately. Speakers called on all our elected officials to remove our youth from the adult detention facility, to improve access to mental health services, and to continue to demand inclusion for immigrants in our community.
CAFé’s faith leaders and clergy will hold a prayer vigil at the Doña Ana detention center on Wednesday, Oct. 28th. The vigil is to affirm our commitment to hold elected officials accountable to re-open the juvenile facility according to their nine month timeline or before. CAFé clergy and leaders will pray for County officials to see and hear us for the safety and well-being of our children, for their families, and for the safety of detention officers working long hours.
In response to the Faith & Families Summit, Commissioner Garrett resolved to prioritize moving our youth back to the juvenile detention center by March, 2016. In a post on Facebook, he writes, “Running throughout each issue--juvenile detention, mental illness, and discrimination against immigrants--is the common problem of being invisible. If the larger community doesn’t see these problems, affected individuals and their families will never get the support they need. I will personally do all I can to have the Juvenile Unit opened by March of 2016. I see you. One year is enough.”
Also in a recent facebook post, Deidra Schaub, faith leader, mother, and resident of Las Cruces, praised County Commissioner Billy Garrett for his willingness to work together with CAFé leaders to resolve the situation quickly. She stated, “I’m looking forward to working with you on an issue near and dear to the hearts of El Calvario United Methodist Church and University United Methodist Church.” She shared her own story at the Faith & Families Summit recalling fond childhood memories of her favorite cousin. He will be released from jail this year, and her one hope is that “he hasn’t lost his joyful spirit”.
In March of this year, a discussion about the staffing shortage at the detention center was held by Doña Ana County officials. Although there were options on the table such as reducing the adult population by transporting them to other detention centers, in May the County decided to temporarily close the juvenile detention facility. Subsequently, 22 youths were moved into the adult detention center. The move decreases the number of beds that were available in the juvenile facility from 50 down to 27. The juvenile facility began operations in 2001. Currently, the facility houses 4 administrative personnel, which means overhead costs are being incurred monthly for an otherwise vacant building. In a press release by the County, housing youth in the adult facility in separate quarters was meant to keep them close to their families. However, in a recent interview with District Court Judge Marci Beyer, CAFé learned that some youth had, in fact, been moved to facilities as far away as Farmington, limiting their contact with their families and loved ones. According to Judge Beyer, there is still a significant staff shortage as per her discussions with Chris Barela, Detention Center Administrator. In a press release on Oct. 15th by the County, 17 new detention officers completed their academy training. There may be as many as 44 positions yet to be filled. CAFé leaders and clergy have requested a tour of the facility and a meeting with Mr. Barela to collect more information.
“Clearly the County is not on track to re-open the facility and has forgotten the needs of our children and their families,” explained Sarah Silvafierro, Director of CAFé. “To our children and families, we say ‘I see you’ and your lives matter. We ask the County to prioritize their safety, their access to education and medical needs within the facility, and their ability to see their loved ones face-to-face. Children are still children, even behind bars.”
Staff shortages in detention centers is not uncommon across the nation. Some possible solutions are to reduce the adult inmate population by transferring them to other facilities, to change internal procedures, to create an oversight committee to hold officials accountable, and/or to create a taskforce consisting of judges, the district attorney’s office, and other county officials to move criminal cases faster through the system, thus, also reducing the jail population.
The prayer vigil begins at 5:30 p.m. at the Doña Ana County Detention Center, 1850 Copper Loop, in Las Cruces. The public is welcome to attend, and we ask our multi-faith prayer groups to answer their call as the prophet Isaiash did in Isaiah 6:8 when he heard God’s voice ask, “Who will I send? Who will go for us?” and Isaiah replied, “Here I am, God, send me!”
For more information go to CAFé’s websitewww.OrganizeNM.org or follow us on Twitter @OrganizeNM or visit our Facebook page NM Comunidades en Accion y de Fe.