New Mexico counties say state owes them millions for incarceration costs

Two officials representing county governments say the state of New Mexico owes local governments millions of dollars for unreimbursed jail expenses.

But while lawmakers passed legislation in 2007 requiring the state to reimburse county jails for incarcerating state prisoners, officials contend the state has not made sufficient contributions.

For instance, according to a recent presentation to the interim legislative Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee by Grace Phillips, risk management director for the New Mexico County Insurance Authority, between June 2023 and July 2024, the 25 counties with jails spent $383 million on operations, but only received $4.6 million in reimbursement from the state, approximately 1.2%, of the cost.

Phillips characterized that amount as "puny" and said it only covers half the cost resulting from detaining people who are in the legal custody of the Corrections Department.

Over the past seven years, this "state reimbursement shortfall" has totaled more than $45.3 million, according to the presentation.

Phillips said the gap between what the state is legally obligated to pay and what the Legislature has set aside "has really gotten out of control."

"The cost of detention is staggering when you think about what county budgets are like as opposed to the state," she said. "We're much smaller than the state, and we spend an extraordinary proportion of that budget on detention facilities."

Katherine Carroll, a lobbyist for the nonprofit NM Counties, told the committee that over the last five years, her organization has been unable to gain any traction with lawmakers about increasing reimbursements.

Carroll said she has raised the concern with Legislative Finance Committee staff over the last couple of years, but by the end of each legislative session, they tell her "there's just not enough money there to reimburse the counties for housing state inmates."

The Legislature passed the county jail reimbursement law shortly after the New Mexico Court of Appeals sided with San Miguel County in a lawsuit against the Corrections Department. The court said the state must pay when someone in its custody is held in a local jail, even if the Legislature's appropriation to the Corrections Department provided insufficient funds for doing so.

Committee Chair Sen. Joseph Cervantes (D-Las Cruces) pushed back at Carroll's contention that staff told her the state had insufficient funds for reimbursement:

"Nobody elected the staff," he said. "They elected us, and they elected the governor who passed a law that says you're supposed to get reimbursed, and you don't get reimbursed. So who made the staff king? I don't understand that."

So if the state isn't going to reimburse the counties, Cervantes contended, lawmakers should change the law to reflect that, or the counties should sue to enforce the law as it stands.

"I would tell you to sue — maybe that's the callous attitude of a lawyer, but we have courts and we have the law for a reason," he said. "When you say 'owed,' are you planning to do something about this? Or is it just to make us feel bad for you?"

Carroll told Cervantes her organization has been discussing the possibility of litigation for the past year, but had hoped the presentation to the committee might trigger lawmakers' assistance.

"Other than that, I guess the counties would have to look at a second lawsuit regarding this issue," she said.