The estimated annual cost of housing felons in state detention facilities is $25.4 million, according to a report published by the New Mexico Sentencing Commission.
Linda Freeman and Paul Guerin work for the UNM Institute for Social Research and co-authored the report. They are members of the commission.
Michael Hall, the executive director of the commission, stated in a press release the information in the report is valuable for legislators who make decisions about how much money to spend on housing felons in county detention centers.
As a result of the commission's report, a bill funding reimbursement to counties for the incarceration of state prisoners has been introduced in the Senate. The author is Democratic Sen. Richard Martinez.
Freeman said members from the commission often serve as expert witnesses for legislators in Santa Fe.
"We look at those bills having to do with criminal justice," she said. "Then we can make recommendations to legislators or to the district attorney and sheriff's department."
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Freeman said the goal of the commission is to provide analysis, recommendations and assistance to the government and citizens, so they have the resources necessary to make informed policy decisions.
Freeman said the commission benefits by being on campus, because University researchers are accessible to the commission.
The study was conducted at the request of the New Mexico Association of Counties to determine the cost of housing state-level felons in county detention facilities for one day.
"They funded the report, because counties are seeking reimbursement from the state for probation or parole violators held in county facilities," Freeman said. "Housing them is expensive and doesn't really fall under their jurisdiction."
Commission members presented their findings to the association on Saturday in Santa Fe.
Freeman said the work done by UNM researchers and the commission benefits the community by providing policy makers with the latest research, therefore enabling better-educated decision-making on their part, she said.
A sample of county detention centers was selected based on size and geographic location to represent facilities throughout the state.
The Bernalillo County facility is the largest in New Mexico with 2,038 beds, according to the report.
Freeman said the commission's study used the same approach used by the Bureau of Justice Statistics in their Annual Survey of Local Jails.
This technique involved collecting and analyzing information for all arrestees in custody on a particular day, she said.
Detention centers provided lists of individuals in custody on June 30. The information from the lists determined whether the arrestee was being held on a felony or misdemeanor charge.
Nearly 69 percent of arrestees held were charged with at least one felony, the report said.
Of the 2,536 arrestees with felony charges held in the six detention facilities that day:
* 33 percent fit one of the felony categories for which costs were calculated.
* 66 percent had not been sentenced with new charges or warrants other than probation or parole violation.
The report breaks cost down into four felony
categories:
* Sentenced prisoners awaiting transport to a state facility cost counties $2.4 million.
* Felons sentenced to probation and parole violators sentenced to detention facilities cost almost $4.3 million.
* Felons sentenced to detention facilities cost almost $6.6 million.
* Unsentenced probation and parole violators cost $12.1 million.
The commission's complete report can be viewed online at www.nmsc.state.nm.us.
