Corrections Officers Who Responded Are Told Not to Enter Pod or They’d be Hurt
Two inmates were injured after being beaten by cellmates on Aug. 31 at the Rio Arriba County Detention Center, in what at least one jail guard called a riot.
Deputies with the Rio Arriba County Detention Center and New Mexico State Police officers were dispatched to the jail in Tierra Amarilla after a 911 call was received at the Española/Rio Arriba E911 Center at 12:18 a.m. Aug. 31., claiming there was a disturbance at the jail, a possible riot in B pod.
The 911 log said the caller told the dispatcher that some inmates were armed with broom handles and the rest of the jail was on lock-down. Around 12:36 a.m., a second call was placed from someone at the jail who requested an ambulance for two inmates with trauma wounds. By 12:58 a.m., the pod was under control and the injured inmates were taken out. The two appeared to have facial injuries due to blunt force and lacerations, Deputy John Greene is noted as reporting in the 911 log.
Emails were sent to RACDC Jail Administrator Adeline Martinez and County Manager Jeremy Maestas, asking for the injured inmates’ names, however neither responded. Phone calls to both also were not returned.
Surveillance footage of the incident at the jail was obtained by the Rio Grande SUN through an Inspection of Public Records Request. The video shows more than a dozen inmates walking around B pod around 11:55 p.m. A group gathers near the door and seems to be talking, while one man is lying on a mattress on the floor and appears to be sleeping. The men walk by him several times but don’t appear to say anything to him or bother him.
At 11:53 p.m., an inmate grabs a broom handle from the toilet area of the pod and places is on a nearby bottom bunk. A minute later, a different inmate walks over to the bed and removes the broom handle, placing it in his bunk area, instead. They all walk back-and-forth for several minutes with the lights out, until around 12:12 a.m., when a scuffle breaks out to the right of the screen, near the bunks. The lights come on at 12:13 a.m. and a guard appears at the door. The guard speaks with an inmate who points back toward the pod and after a few seconds, the guard backs away and the door closes. That’s when about half a dozen inmates begin punching and kicking another inmate standing between the bunks. They punch him repeatedly in the head and body, with some getting on the top bunk so they can kick him in the head.
Meanwhile, another group of about six inmates begins to attack the man sleeping on the floor. They too, punch and kick him. The inmate who spoke with the guard approaches the man, delivering kicks to his face. The man eventually quits moving and the inmates walk off. One by one, they go up to him and punch and kick him. The man who spoke to the guard at the door crouches down and gets in the man’s face, seemingly yelling at him. Shortly after, a shirtless inmate approaches the beaten man and says something to him, then walks away. Another man grabs the man on the floor by the leg and drags him toward the door, as yet another inmate take the opportunity to hit him. He gets hit with the broomstick several times as well as a plastic chair.
The first man who was attacked can be seen sitting upright near the door, occasionally hitting the door with his fist, appearing to try and summon a guard.
After the beating, the remaining inmates continue milling around the pod, some wrapping towels around their faces or putting them on their heads. All seems calm until the man who was lying on the floor begins to move around. An inmate seated at a table gets up and goes over to him, removing the broomstick that the man picked up. The inmate then goes to the man’s mattress on the floor and strips the sheets and blankets off before returning to the table where he begins to shuffle a deck of cards. By 12:20 a.m., all seems calm in B pod. Inmates are walking around and preparing to play cards while the two beaten men remain in the corner near the door. After the initial appearance of the guard at the door, no others appear throughout the remainder of the video.
Police Response
Body worn camera footage from one of the responding deputies shows him, another deputy and two State Police officers arriving on scene at the jail as the injured inmates are being pushed into a hallway while they sit in wheelchairs.
The deputy asks jail staff if the men have a lot of injuries and whether the guards were able to take control of the situation.
“Yeah, we got control of them,” jail guard Stephanie Gallegos said to the deputy and suggests that he speak with DC 3 (Case Manager Timothy Gallegos), but also points out that DC 1, Jail Administrator Adeline Martinez, is there as well.
A few seconds later, Martinez walks by the deputies, followed by a NMSP officer, as she walks into what appears to be a break room. The deputies and other officers follow her into the break room, where she’s joined by Stephanie Gallegos.
“I, myself, just got here, so I really don’t know what’s going on,” Martinez said to the officers. “Stephanie can brief you as to what’s happening. Or what happened.”
Stephanie Gallegos explains that they did lock-down at 10:30 p.m. A few minutes later, a fight broke out, so the guards ran down the hallway. Though she said the fight happened around 10:30 p.m., surveillance footage with a timestamp shows it happened around midnight and the 911 logs say the call reporting the incident was placed around the same time.
“These guys threatened us to stay out of the pod, do not come in there otherwise we were going to get hurt, ourselves,” she said. “And they ended up hitting one of the guys, then they just all went on both of them. They started beating them up, running around, we had no idea how many of them were beat up but, turns out there was only two of them but it was out of control in there, they would not allow us to come in. So we just stayed back because there was only three of us to actually assess the situation until I got ahold of them (as she points to Martinez). That’s why I called you guys in because we weren’t too sure who we were going to get ahold of to come out and help.”
Martinez tells the officers that “Timothy did arrive and he was able to go in there. They said they’re done and they’re not going to do anything else. So unless these guys want to press charges, there’s not a whole lot we’re going to do until we get some more people here …”
She said something else that was inaudible.
A deputy asks what the demeanor of the inmates is since the beating. Stephanie Gallegos said they are sitting down and they (guards) haven’t had to enter again and have been assessing the injured inmates.
He asks what the status of weapons in the pod is. Martinez said they don’t have any, while Stephanie Gallegos said they removed the broomstick.
“Our DC 3 did speak with them and they told him they were done,” she said.
A NMSP officer asks how they can help.
Stephanie Gallegos looks at Martinez who said, “Right now, I think we’re good. Timothy did go in there to speak to them, they did tell him ‘We’re done, everything’s done. We took care of what we had to take care of.’”
Martinez then said she and her staff will take care of it internally to see who started the fight and who was involved.
The officer tells her they just got a shots fired call in Cebolla. She tells them to go ahead and go and they will take care of it.
“Thank you guys for coming in,” she tells them as they all exit the break room.
No Charges
Another deputy’s body worn camera shows him approach the two inmates who were beaten as they are sitting in the hallway. One has a bandage wrapped around his head and is holding what appears to be an ice pack to his forehead, both men have severe injuries to their faces; one has an eye swollen shut and both are bloody.
The men are sitting in wheelchairs as the deputy approaches and asks them if they want to press charges. Both men shake their heads “no,” but don’t speak. The deputy asks if they are sure and the man on the right nods in the affirmative, while the man on the left doesn’t respond.
“OK,” the deputy said, as he walks away.
County Response
An email was sent to Rio Arriba County Manager Jeremy Maestas, asking about the incident and whether RACDC guards were equipped with riot gear and trained to use it, since they did not enter the pod after being threatened by the inmate. Maestas did not respond to the email. A call was placed to Martinez at the RACDC on Tuesday morning, however, the woman who answered the phone said Martinez was in meetings all day and to call back tomorrow. When asked if there was anyone else who could speak about the incident, she said no, it would have to be Martinez and again said she was in meetings all day. An email sent to Martinez went unanswered.