Second Chance responds to allegations

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - The Director of the Second Chance rehabilitation center is firing back after a News 13 report on Wednesday.

Director Joy Westrum is angry after Albuquerque police claimed the facility snuck out 40 inmates ahead of a deadline to report them.

The city made a mistake. Those 40 people bussed downtown on Wednesday were from the Albuquerque Rescue Mission which shares a building with Second Chance.

However Albuquerque Public Safety Director Pete Dinelli said he's confirmed eight other people were taken out of Second Chance on Wednesday.

They were in van, last seen leaving the city limits on Interstate 40 headed west, according to Dinelli.

"What I wanted was an accounting of the individuals that were there as of last week, and apparently they are deliberately deciding not to include those eight individuals," Dinelli said. "And to me failure to disclose is just as good as lying."

Dinelli spent part of Christmas Day reviewing documents handed to him by Second Chance on Wednesday, the deadline the city imposed on the drug and alcohol treatment facility.

He wants to know if Second Chance is abiding by the terms of its lease.

Dinelli said the documents reveal at least eight of the 46 inmates currently at Second Chance have been convicted of violent crimes.

"The lease is very clear that you can only have minimum or medium secured individuals," he said. "In all likelihood, I'm going to recommend that we terminate their lease and evict them."

The public safety director said that there's another clear violation. He said Second Chance built a large sauna inside the facility and there is no record the addiction treatment center ever applied for the proper permits.

On Thursday afternoon, Director of Second Chance Joy Westrum delivered a statement to News 13, saying Second chance transferred 11 inmates out this week for various reasons.

The statement also said that Westrum's confident that she's acting within the terms of the lease.