A New Mexico jail that was recently ordered to pay a $22 million jury verdict for tossing an innocent man in solitary confinement for years has a disturbing history of settling cases involving the mistreatment of prisoners, The Daily has learned.
The Dona Ana County Jail has settled at least two major lawsuits within the past 10 years that were filed by prisoners claiming they were victimized.
That doesn’t include the $22 million awarded on Tuesday to Stephen Slevin, who languished in a tiny cell for two years in deplorable conditions for a drunken driving charge that never saw trial. The county plans to appeal.
The jail hasn’t learned from its mistakes, said Nancy Koenigsberg, legal director of Disability Rights New Mexico. She helped the American Civil Liberties Union win a class-action case in January 2010 for the mistreatment of mentally ill inmates.
“People with mental illness go into segregation,” she said. “I think it still happens from time to time.”
Former inmate Frederick Garcia complained he was humiliated after being charged with drunken driving in 2004, and forced to strip naked. “I took my own clothes off and they had me look around and squat down and cough,” said Garcia, one of thousands of inmates to sue over such treatment and settle with the county.
Lawyer Bob Rothstein, who helped win $5 million in the strip-searching case, said the county didn’t change its behavior until it stood to lose millions of dollars.
Slevin, who has lung cancer, said through his lawyer that he will never fully recover from his time at the detention center.
“What they did to me was inhumane,” he said.
MLNestel@thedaily.com
The Dona Ana County Jail has settled at least two major lawsuits within the past 10 years that were filed by prisoners claiming they were victimized.
That doesn’t include the $22 million awarded on Tuesday to Stephen Slevin, who languished in a tiny cell for two years in deplorable conditions for a drunken driving charge that never saw trial. The county plans to appeal.
The jail hasn’t learned from its mistakes, said Nancy Koenigsberg, legal director of Disability Rights New Mexico. She helped the American Civil Liberties Union win a class-action case in January 2010 for the mistreatment of mentally ill inmates.
“People with mental illness go into segregation,” she said. “I think it still happens from time to time.”
Former inmate Frederick Garcia complained he was humiliated after being charged with drunken driving in 2004, and forced to strip naked. “I took my own clothes off and they had me look around and squat down and cough,” said Garcia, one of thousands of inmates to sue over such treatment and settle with the county.
Lawyer Bob Rothstein, who helped win $5 million in the strip-searching case, said the county didn’t change its behavior until it stood to lose millions of dollars.
Slevin, who has lung cancer, said through his lawyer that he will never fully recover from his time at the detention center.
“What they did to me was inhumane,” he said.
MLNestel@thedaily.com
