Q&A: County Manager Lance Pyle answers questions about jail

Today marks the one-month anniversary of the attempted escape of four inmates from the Curry County Adult Detention Center.

Sheriff Matt Murray took command of the facility in the aftermath of the escape after Interim Administrator Carlos Ortiz and several members of his command staff resigned.

Officials said the inmates — housed in isolation cells — ripped a metal desk from a wall and used it to bust holes through the cinderblock walls of their cells. Once free within the facility, they caused about $15,000 in damage to a window, lights and the ceiling in the visitation area.

They were captured without incident when law enforcement was called to assist.

Officials have since reported they discovered the facility was understaffed and staff had not been trained.

County Manager Lance Pyle answered questions by e-mail. His responses have been edited for style and clarity.

Q: Realistically, do you see the county procuring the money to build a new jail in the near future?

A: Realistically, Curry County needs a new detention facility. It would be great to have a new detention center. We (county commissioners and I) have learned that the detention center that was constructed in the early 1990s was built very cheap and corners were cut to get the current facility built with the funds that were available at that time. The facility as constructed is very labor intensive to operate and the walls and ceiling were not hardened.

After the 2008 escape the county has made the detention center a top priority and we have hardened the ceilings and done other physical plant improvements, which prevented the escape on Feb. 20. The county commission and I learned on Feb. 20 that the walls in the facility were hollow and that when the facility was constructed in the early ’90s the county cut corners and did not fill the walls with non-shrinking grout and vertical reinforcing bars.

Q: How serious are the deficiencies at the jail and how critical is the need for a new jail?

A: When there are an average of 250 people in confinement each day, who do not follow the law, there are no guarantees; however, with the improvements that have been made and those that will be completed over the next several months, the overall security of the facility and the safety of the county employees, the inmates and the public has been greatly improved. The county commission and I have concerns. We have made a lot of improvements to the physical plant, but almost weekly we are discovering other physical plant improvements that are needed that should have been done in the ’90s.

The county has contracted with an architectural company in Albuquerque (last month) to do a needs analysis, and one of the items that will be studied will be a construction of a new facility as well as renovation of the existing facility. The taxpayers of this county are still paying for the current detention center and we are being told that a new facility would cost the county in excess of $20 million.

Q: You’ve said you were not aware the jail was understaffed until after the attempted escape. Why didn’t you or other county officials know that before Feb. 20?

A: You have people in management positions and you have got to trust them until they prove you wrong; one person cannot do everything, so it has got to be a team. Mr. Ortiz ... told the (jail) committee that everything was going well. He never informed me or the committee of any of the problems that we later discovered. Since this has occurred, additional steps have been put into place that the personnel coordinator will e-mail me at the close of business each night with the number of vacant positions for the county.

Ortiz has declined multiple requests for interviews from the CNJ.

— Compiled by CNJ staff writer Sharna Johnson