MDC chief: Give me a B-minus

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - For years, Albuquerque’s main jail was plagued by problems ranging from guards sexually assaulting inmates to drug smuggling to inmate brawls.

So a year ago, in an effort to finally get a handle on the problems, county officials hired Ramon Rustin, the first jail administrator from outside the state. Rustin, who’s been in corrections for more than three decades, was a warden at a jail in Pennsylvania for six years before coming to Albuquerque.

Now a year later, KRQE News 13 wanted to know if anything at the Metropolitan Detention Center has changed.

"M.D.C. has been in the news too much," Rustin said. "A lot of fights, a lot of negative stuff, a lot of contraband.”

And that means some of the problems have continued, including 11 guards arrested in the last year.

Last month, six of those guards were allegedly involved in the beating of an inmate, though only five were charged. Two other guards were caught on videotape in October brawling at an Albuquerque Hooter’s Restaurant during an Oakland Raiders-Denver Broncos NFL game.

Two other officers have been accused of trying to smuggle drugs into the jail, while another was accused of selling drugs to inmates. Finally, another guard was arrested for allegedly breaking into a girlfriend’s house.

There's been a heap of problems with inmates too.

News 13 compared the numbers between Rustin’s first year and the year before he took over. Turns out that both escapes and wrongful releases of inmates are up. There have also been more reports of inmate assaults and altercations with staff and other inmates, according to statistics provided by the jail.

Rustin defended the numbers, saying it takes time to turn things around.

"I think it's a very stressful, very negative environment,” he said. “Part of the problems is that it's overcrowded like you wouldn't believe.”

More than 2,600 inmates are currently housed at MDC – about 400 over capacity.

Rustin believes the statistics may be up because he's making sure every incident gets reported and not swept under the rug, which he said was the norm in the past.

But there is some good news.

Fewer incidents of sexual assaults by inmates and staff at the jail were reported, according to the statistics. Reports of staff assaulting inmates also were down. And there are fewer reports of employee misconduct, including things like stealing on the job or smuggling drugs into the jail.

Rustin said he is most proud, however, of the “honor” program he’s started at the jail, including the availability of popcorn, laundry service and personal radios. Four hundred inmates currently are enrolled in the program, and the jail even pays the best behaved of those inmates up to $40 a month.

Rustin said he's doing all he can to change the negative culture that's been ingrained at MDC for years.

"There's very little positive about the living conditions in this jail," he said.

Several Bernalillo County commissioners told News 13 they are happy with the job Rustin is doing. The correction officer's union president, Steven Perkins, also said that, overall, MDC officers are happy with Rustin. Perkins said Rustin has the experience to turn the jail problems around.

Asked to grade himself for his first year on the job, Rustin said, “Say a B-minus. And that’s because there’s still a lot of issues.”