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Second person dies at Bernalillo County jail in less than a week
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The Metropolitan Detention Center is investigating the second death of an inmate in the past week.
MDC spokeswoman Candace Hopkins said Raymond Mills died Thursday morning after being booked into the facility less than 24 hours earlier.
Court records show the 41-year-old was arrested after allegedly stealing from an AutoZone store and threatening an employee with a knife on New Year’s Day.
Hopkins said Mills was moved to “medical housing” after being booked into the jail Wednesday afternoon. Hopkins said around 8:16 a.m. on Thursday, Mills had “a medical emergency.”
She said MDC staff and the medical team with University of New Mexico Health Systems, which oversees care at the jail, “swiftly responded and began administering life-saving measures.” Hopkins said at around 8:50 a.m., Albuquerque Ambulance Service and Bernalillo County Fire Rescue “arrived to assist with ongoing efforts to stabilize Mills.”
She said Mills was pronounced dead 20 minutes later.
Both the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office and MDC’s Office of Professional Standards are investigating the death.
The incident marked the second death in the past week. On Saturday, Violet Denetso, 44, died at University of New Mexico Hospital 12 hours after falling ill while behind bars at the jail.
An attorney said other inmates alleged Denetso had been complaining of stomach pain for days and was getting no help. Relatives said doctors told them she died from complications of a ruptured intestine.
Mills was the seventh person to die at the jail or die after being injured or falling ill at the facility since Jan. 1, 2024.
MDC has had 33 inmates die since 2020 as it shuffled and reshuffled two for-profit medical providers before University of New Mexico Health Systems took over health care at the jail in July 2023.
Ten inmates have died since UNM took over.
