MDC employees disciplined for clerical errors that led to wrongful releases of inmates

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – An investigation into two Metropolitan Detention Center employees who wrongfully released inmates early is now complete. According to MDC, two correction techs admitted to releasing inmates early. The first release was on July 3 and another 14 days later.

The investigation found there was another early release in May from that same employee. Investigators found that each incident was outside of the control of the correction techs.

In 2020, a now-former MDC deputy chief made a decision to no longer require supervisors to sign off on the release, discharge, or transfer of an inmate. On Wednesday, the new warden was asked by the Bernalillo County Detention Oversight Committee why someone would approve of that decision in the first place. “I can’t intelligently speak on that. I can only tell you that the decision, once we seen that, was to immediately fix that and eliminate that, going back to a double set of eyes to check the paperwork for accuracy to ensure that this doesn’t happen again,” said MDC Warden Steven Kai Smith.

MDC said the employees have been disciplined and could lose their jobs if it happens again.

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