SCDC re-accredited as a county detention center

BERNALILLO — The Sandoval County Detention Center was re-accredited by the New Mexico Adult Detention Professional Standards Council, an achievement that was recognized by the Sandoval County Commission at the Oct. 9 meeting.

The accreditation became official May 19 this year and runs through June 26, 2027.

“It is so important for us to have these standards in place so that we know exactly what’s going on in our establishment and how we’re behaving and managing things,” Commissioner Katherine Bruch said.

This is the second accreditation the detention center has received, according to Bruch, who thanked Warden Gilbert Armendariz and the staff at the detention center during the meeting.

“It’s been going on for some years, and I really think that the work that you’ve done has taken us in the right direction and we just want to continue that,” she said.

Commissioner Jay Block brought up the fact that not so long ago, the detention center wasn’t in good shape. He says he and Commissioner Dave Heil remember what the county had to go through in 2017, adding that the accreditation didn’t happen until after Armendariz took over.

Heil described just how bad things were at that time.

“When you think of it, and once we came, the third-world prison that we inherited and how far we’ve come,” he said. “The restrooms, you would be embarrassed to have any worst enemies use. It’s just a great progress that we’ve made into consideration of our decisions as to what inmates that we have decided to care for has gone a long way with regard to restricting the county’s liabilities and also focusing on the citizens of our county.”

Accreditation signals a constitutionally acceptable level of care for a facility’s inmates, which translates into improved health status, fewer grievances and lawsuits, and reduced health or safety risk to the community when incarcerated people are released.