State terminates contract with county jail

Kate Nash | The New Mexican

7/3/2008 - 7/4/08

The state Department of Corrections has canceled a contract with Santa Fe County to house inmates at the county jail.

Corrections Secretary Joe Williams said the state won't need to put inmates in the county lockup because of the declining population in the state system.

At the same time, a new prison is opening in Clayton later this summer, freeing space in state prisons.

In a letter to the county, Williams thanked the county for its services and said the only reason he was ending the contract is because he doesn't need the beds.

Williams said the inmate population over the past year has "unexpectedly, steadily decreased."

"While population declines have occurred in the past for short periods of time, at this point it appears that this decline will continue into the foreseeable future," he wrote.

The population Thursday was 6,269, down from its peak of 6,873 in August 2006.

The state has been housing 104 inmates in the county facility and will move all of them within 120 days.

A majority of the inmates will not go to Clayton, but to other facilities in the state. Inmates from the facilities to which the Santa Fe County inmates are relocated will head to the Northeast New Mexico Correctional Facility in Clayton.

The new facility is expected to have 625 beds, 600 of which will be used for state prisoners, and is on track to open in August.

Stephen Ulibarri, county spokesman, said the county isn't worried about finding new inmates for the beds, in part because it houses inmates from other jurisdictions.

"This will allow Santa Fe County to accept more inmates from those other counties and to expand to other counties," he said.

"We don't anticipate it affecting our budget in a negative manner," he said.

The $63 million prison in Clayton will be operated by GEO, formerly Wackenhut. The company also runs prisons in Hobbs and Santa Rosa.

Contact Kate Nash at 986-3036 or knash@sfnewmexican.com. Read her blog, Green Chile Chatter, at www.santafenewmexican.com.