EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — Six people who were held at the Doña Ana County Detention Center filed a lawsuit on Thursday, Oct. 16, alleging that the jail conducts violent and unwarranted paramilitary training operations on incarcerated people that violates the New Mexico Constitution.
The lawsuit was filed in the Third Judicial District Court against the Doña Ana County Board of County Commissioners and the detention center. The plaintiffs are listed as Mario Banda-Alicea, Tyler Cole, Jonathan Silva, Jeremy Dean Smith, Mario Carrasco, and Zachary Gonzales, who were or are currently detained at the center.
The lawsuit alleges that the Doña Ana County Detention Center’s Special Operations and Response Team (SORT) terrorized incarcerated people who were used as live training subjects for new cadets.
The response team was initially formed to provide military tactics training to a select group of corrections officers within the detention center to handle high-risk situations, including riots, evacuations, and is intended to be used only when necessary or as a last resort, according to the lawsuit.
The response team is equipped with tactical vests, shotguns, AR-15s, 9mm weapons, gas masks, and other types of weapons.
The lawsuit alleges the response team conducts random and violent operations when no critical incidents have happened and has escalated routine cell shakedowns into excessive force situations.
The response team has also conducted unwarranted operations at any time of day or night using paramilitary tactics and psychological warfare against individuals who are “not resisting and who are compliant with SORT’s erratic and unusual commands,” according to the lawsuit.
“SORT storms the pod, weapons drawn, while people are simply playing cards, watching TV, getting a haircut, or engaged in Bible study,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit alleges that the response team also uses tasers, or other weapons, on compliant and restrained individuals because they ask questions on “why they are being abused,” the lawsuit said.
The response team has allegedly been engaging in violent and unwarranted operations at the detention center for years.
“SORT has conducted at least 112 violent operations since January 2023,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit states that the New Mexico Constitution prohibits the government from imposing cruel and unusual punishments and also prohibits the government from using excessive force against individuals in state or county custody.
The lawsuit also states the defendants denied the plaintiffs their right to due process when they allowed and authorized the response team to use excessive force against them.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit are asking for an injunction preventing the response team from engaging in future unconstitutional operations and financial compensation.
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