Alleged Inhumane Conditions At Dona Ana County Jail Prompt Response

Dona Ana County’s legal team is preparing to appeal a judgment handed over by a federal jury in Santa Fe Tuesday regarding alleged inhumane conditions at the county jail in Las Cruces.

“We’re confident going into the appeal that we have solid legal issues upon which to base the appeal,” said county spokesman Jess Williams Thursday.

Williams opened up to ABC-7 in an interview outside the jail. He was initially tight-lipped about the case, which resulted in a $22 million judgment against the county and jail officials.

The case was brought on by Stephen Slevin, a former inmate. Slevin was booked into the detention center in 2005 on DWI and other driving-related charges. Slevin’s lawyer, Matthew Coyte, said his client was denied basic hygiene and medical treatment due to a mental illness.

Slevin spent 22 months in the jail without going to trial for the charges against him. He was mostly in a solitary administrative segregation pod.

“He came out (of the jail) with the worst case of post-traumatic stress disorder you’ve ever seen,” Coyte said. “If you have a policy of putting people in cells and leaving them there for months at a time without letting them out, you are going to have damaged human beings as a result.”

Court documents allege Slevin grew bed sores and fungus on his skin and even pulled his own tooth out at one point.

Williams said ever since those allegations made their way into news publications, his office has been swamped with phone calls.

“The media attention that Dona Ana County’s been getting makes it sound like our detention center is a rat hole and nothing could be further than the truth,” said Williams.

Williams said Slevin was given the resources he requested. Asked about a picture taken shortly before Slevin’s release where Slevin appears unkempt, Williams said, “We don’t have a dress code here. We provide razor blades, we provide combs, we provide shampoo. All the basics are there. If Mr. Slevin decided to grow his hair out and grow a beard, that was his decision.”

Williams said Slevin was in administrative segregation by choice and then became unresponsive.

“For the first five months he was in our facility he requested medical care and he got it. When he requested commissary he got it. He just stopped communicating, but three times a day every day medical personnel went cell by cell through that segregated unit to check on those people,” said Williams.

So why was Slevin at the facility for 22 months without a trial? Williams explained, “The fact is that the Third Judicial District Attorney’s office, his defense lawyers or the courts could have made the decision to get him out. We didn’t have that ability.”

District Attorney Amy Orlando told ABC-7 the legal process is different for inmates who may be mentally ill than those who are not.

“Twenty-two months (in a detention center) for someone who has possible mental health issues is not unreasonable at all because we can’t just say, ‘Go back out on the streets.’ They need treatment, they need help,” said Orlando.

The district attorney’s office provided ABC-7 a timeline documenting all the hearings involving Slevin. The documents show he was taken to a mental health facility in Las Vegas, N.M. and underwent competency and “dangerousness” evaluations.

In June of 2007 a judge decided to dismiss the charges against him and have him civilly committed instead.

“No one is accusing (the DA’s office) of taking too long or delaying this case. The process was handled appropriately,” said Orlando. “The issue at trial was how was he treated during that process.”

The county said Slevin had a lengthy criminal record even without factoring the 2005 charges.

Slevin is still slated to receive 22 million in damages from the county. Counties usually have insurance for that, but Williams said it’s too early to discuss payment because of the pending appeal.