Resource: Bravo v. Board of Commissioners of Dona Ana County

Filed in federal court in New Mexico, Bravo challenges the lack of mental health services and release planning in the county jail and discriminatory arrest practices by local law enforcement officers. According to the complaint, 30-40% of the approximately 900 detainees crowded into the 850-bed county jail have mental illnesses that are neither assessed nor treated. In addition, jail personnel rely far too heavily on restraint and seclusion. The complaint lists as inadequately addressed the full range of standard mental health care practices, including admissions screening and discharge planning, asserting that: “The predictable result is often recidivism and a cycle of arrests and detentions, at a great personal cost to the individual and at a great financial and social cost to the public at large.”