Lincoln County jail contract nears expiration as records on inmate suicide stay under wraps

CARRIZOZO — Lincoln County's contract with the private company that runs its jail expires in less than four months. Records released to AlamogordoTownNews.org show the county pays the operator about $5.45 million a year. But the county has not released records about an inmate suicide at the facility or about staffing levels there, and its attorney says the next update on the request won't come until mid-December.

Correctional Solutions Group LLC (CSG), based in Tyler, Texas, has run the Lincoln County Detention Center under an agreement signed Jan. 28, 2020. That agreement set a five-year initial term with up to four two-year renewals. On Nov. 19, 2024, County Commission Chairman Todd F. Proctor and CSG Chief Operating Officer David L. Stanfield signed the first renewal. It extends the contract from Jan. 28, 2025, through Jan. 27, 2027. The renewal also references a second amendment dated June 11, 2024, which was not among the documents released.

What the county pays

A CSG budget dated Oct. 30, 2024, which the county provided as the cost breakdown for the renewal, sets the county's monthly payment at $454,541.88. That figure includes New Mexico's 7.2% gross receipts tax and comes to $5,454,502.59 a year.

Payroll accounts for about $2.55 million of that. Once taxes, insurance and benefits are added, total staff compensation comes to about $3.22 million. The largest cost outside payroll is general liability insurance at $528,000 a year, followed by food service at $163,200.

The budget sets aside about $70,000 a year for a contract physician, $7,800 for over-the-counter medication and $6,300 for general medical supplies. A line for mental health tele-psychiatry shows no money budgeted. A note beside it is cut off in the released copy, and it cannot be determined from the document whether that service is funded elsewhere. Employee training is budgeted at $8,532 a year and staff incentives at $8,400.

The spreadsheet projects CSG will earn about $773,500 a year before an insurance-related deduction and about $698,700 after it. It lists monthly margins between roughly 11% and 16%. Notations on the budget indicate some costs, including the gross receipts tax and liability insurance, are subject to negotiation or periodic "true-up" adjustments.

A 2020 amendment shows the jail also holds inmates for the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs. Because of that, the contract must comply with the federal Service Contract Act, which requires federal prevailing wages and paid sick leave for the jail's workers.

Records request

KALHRadio.org and AlamogordoTownNews.org a request under the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act (IPRA) seeking records on the  suicide of an inmate at the jail in 2026, staffing and overtime, video footage, communications from medical staff, and the contract renewal.

In an incorrectly dated April 2, 2026, response, Ruidoso attorney Alexandra J. Bobbit, answering on the county's behalf, said many of those records would not be released while the matter is under investigation. The letter cites NMSA 1978 Section 14-2-1.2. The records withheld on that basis include:

• incident reports and investigation files

• the names of staff who responded

• the medical examiner's report

• the inmate's medical and mental health records

• video footage

• all communications from healthcare staff to jail or county officials in the 90 days before the incident

The letter confirmed that surveillance cameras were working in the cell or area where the death occurred. It said the recordings are in CSG's possession and declined to say who else has them.

A second group of records was described only as "currently with CSG," with more time needed to respond. That group includes:

• staffing rosters and shift records for the night of the death

• facility safety inspections for the prior 90 days

• records on cell visibility and window design

• three years of staffing, overtime and turnover data

• any internal communications raising concerns about understaffing or staff fatigue

On the contract, the county released the 2020 amendment, the 2024 renewal and the budget. It pointed to meeting minutes on the county website and said no renewal proposals or counterproposals have been found so far.

The letter says the request remains open and promises an update by Dec. 15, 2026. That is more than eight months after the response and about six weeks before the jail contract expires. IPRA generally requires public bodies to produce records within 15 days. The law allows more time when a request is broad or burdensome.

Our counsel believes that parts of the request are being stonewalled and the response does not meet statutory requirements. 

KALHRadio.org and AlamogordoTownNews.org challenges county's delay

On September 29th we sent a written demand to the county's attorney and records custodian. It asks the county to release, at a minimum, the staffing, overtime, inspection and cell-visibility records that the county described as "with CSG," along with internal communications about understaffing and fatigue.

The letter argues that records CSG holds while running the jail are county public records under IPRA. It cites New Mexico Court of Appeals rulings holding that a private company performing a government function under contract is subject to the law, including a 2020 case involving a private prison health care contractor.

The letter also argues that the county missed IPRA's deadlines. Under the law, a public body must produce records within 15 days or notify the requester within that window that it needs more time for a broad request. The county's first response came in late September, more than 15 days after our August request, and did not claim the request was too broad.

The letter asks the county to:

• produce the staffing records for the night of the death and the 90 days of inspection logs within 10 days

• begin releasing the remaining records on a set schedule

• give a formal written explanation, with legal grounds, for anything it withholds

• confirm that CSG has been told to preserve all related records, including video

It notes that the law allows a requester to go to court, where the public body can be ordered to pay costs, attorney fees and damages.

Why the records matter

The records at issue go to how the county's jail is run, and they are being sought during an unusually troubled stretch for the facility. In recent months, an inmate escaped as reported by the news outlet and other major media; an inmate died by suicide in August prompting the release request, another inmate attempted suicide in September, and the  jail's health care provider was released under questionable circumstances.  Staffing rosters, inspection logs, overtime data and staff communications are among the few ways the public can check whether those events are connected to how the jail is staffed and managed.

The county pays CSG about $5.45 million a year in public money, and the current contract expires Jan. 27, 2027. Commissioners will soon decide whether to renew it, and residents may not see these records before that decision unless the county releases them sooner. Stay tuned; citizens and taxpayers deserve transparency and open access to government information and functions. 

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