Officials say little about Christmas Day 'riot' at juvenile detention facility

A five-hour disturbance involving a large group of juveniles at the Bernalillo County Detention Center on Christmas Day ended with three youths being treated for minor injuries and investigators questioning how it happened, authorities said.

The Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department on Wednesday was continuing its investigation into the incident at the Albuquerque facility that began just before 4 p.m. Monday, but was releasing little information.

Bernalillo County officials as of late Wednesday didn’t answer Journal questions as to how many juveniles were in custody on the day of the disturbance. Nor did they give the maximum capacity of the facility or say whether the detention center was short-staffed that evening.

Instead, the county released a statement that said in part: “County leadership takes seriously their responsibility for the safety and well-being of the residents and staff of the Youth Services Center.”

Meanwhile, a representative from the New Mexico Law Office of the Public Defender hinted that a provision in Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s emergency public health order might be a contributing factor to the disturbance.

Sheriff’s detectives have been conducting interviews and scrutinizing video footage to determine whether criminal charges should be filed, said BSCO Deputy Tyler Lapierre on Tuesday.

Initial reports from the Albuquerque Fire Department stated that emergency services were requested at the juvenile center, at 5100 2nd Street NW, just before 4 p.m. Monday.

“A large number of youths in the detention center ... started a ‘riot’ on the interior of the building,” stated the fire department Monday. The report cited “youths throwing objects inside and barricading entrances to the building.”

Authorities said an unspecified number of detained youth were refusing to return back to their cells.

At least three individuals were taken to University of New Mexico hospital for further evaluation, the report stated.

The incident comes at a time when serious juvenile crime has spiked in the Albuquerque area, even though juvenile crime overall has been on the decline statewide.

The drop in the number of juvenile offenders has led the state of New Mexico to close at least two detention facilities. The Bernalillo County Detention Center, however, is overseen by Bernalillo County, not the state.

Whether overcrowding or short staffing, which has plagued a number of detention facilities, jails and prisons in New Mexico, was a factor could not be ascertained as of Wednesday.

Dennica Torres, the Albuquerque District Defender with the state Law Office of the Public Defender, said in a statement that “while the juvenile jail is trying their best, there are still not enough staff to handle the kids in custody, let alone the ones the governor’s hasty and ill-considered orders are keeping in — despite better and safer places for them.”

To address what the governor has described as a public health emergency, the state Department of Health has been requiring the automatic detention of juveniles caught with handguns, which is a criminal offense.

The public health order was triggered in part by the September slaying of an 11-year-old boy riding in a vehicle with family members on their way home from an Albuquerque Isotopes baseball game.

In the past, some juveniles might have been released from custody on certain conditions into alternative detention settings. Earlier this month, the governor announced the automatic detention of juveniles with guns resulted in 24 additional detentions than would have occurred had the order not been in effect.

In defending juvenile offenders, Torres said her office has been seeing “children who made a foolish mistake, simply carrying a gun in a backpack being jailed alongside children facing first-degree murder and other serious charges.”

Torres said juveniles in detention “aren’t getting outdoors for recreation, and they aren’t leaving their cells for classes. Remember, many of these kids can’t read.”

Youths leaving the detention facility aren’t coming out “better and smarter,” the statement said. “They are coming out traumatized, less educated, less socialized and with criminal connections.”

The county’s statement on Wednesday added that operations at the detention center “are under control.”