ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – The City of Albuquerque filed a motion in federal court asking to be dismissed from a decades-old case related to jail overcrowding.
Jimmie McClendon filed the lawsuit in 1995 on behalf of a group of inmates at the Metropolitan Detention Center. McClendon was arrested on a non-violent misdemeanor and was jailed for several days. The suit alleged McClendon, who was suffering from medical issues, faced poor conditions because the MDC was overcrowded by more than 300 inmates.
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A 2017 settlement agreement required the City of Albuquerque to make several changes in policies and practices aimed at improving the way that police officers interact with individuals who were unhoused or who appeared to have a mental disability. It also required officers not to arrest people suspected of committing non-violent misdemeanor offenses and instead issue citations, except in the cases of DWI.
As part of the settlement agreement, the city also had to track the impact of these changes by creating a course of business records, including:
- Bookings on citable non-violent misdemeanor offenses, not to include DWIs;
- Disposition data for individuals involved in CIT-related incidents;
- Arrests arising from calls for service involving domestic violence; and
- The notation of phone numbers and email addresses on the Uniform Traffic Citation Form.
According to a review of records and analysis of data trends that was compiled in 2024, the city has met its obligations. APD Chief Harold Medina said that because of the progress, the city should be dismissed from the lawsuit.
“We have complied with the agreement and the time has come to dismiss the federal oversight, which is no longer necessary,” Medina said in a news release. “The city has gone above and beyond its obligations. Our response to people with behavioral health needs is fundamentally different than it was in the past.”
APD said the city has funded and implemented several programs with the “general goal” of connecting individuals who may have otherwise been arrested to professional mental health services, in turn reducing the jail population. An example of one of those programs is the Albuquerque Community Safety Department, which serves as an alternative response to public safety calls that do not require a police presence.
According to the news release from APD, the city also maintains a total of 1,240 supportive housing slots for people, including those with mental illness or mental disability.
