Women on the street offered little help

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - With a murder mystery and 11 bodies on the west mesa Lt. Gov. Diane Denish has asked the question of how the community can help women who've fallen into a cycle of drugs prostitution and violence.

"Albuquerque doesn't have that many great services for a homeless, prostitute junkie," a woman told KRQE News 13 shortly after her arrest by Albuquerque Police Department vice officers last week.

A task force led by Denish would agree with that assessment. The group of leaders who run community programs for women who are prostitutes, hooked on drugs and who live on the streets has reported major gaps in services offered in the state.

Former prostitute Letitia Toya-Leclere said she started doing drugs at 15 and soon turned to turning tricks to pay for her drug habit. Most prostitutes don't want to live that life but don't know where to turn, she added.

"What would have helped is a 24-hour crisis place where you could call them and tell them I want to detox and they would come and pick you up detox center," Toya-Leclere said.

Lisa Simpson, executive director of Crossroads for Women, helped prepare and present the study for Denish.

She said she, too, would like to see a shelter that is and intake location open 24 hours a day.

"They can stay there until they can connect to these other services," Simpson said. The shelter would intervene when women would get out of prison or jail, she added.

That's a time when they are clean, sober and stable, the best time to offer them services.

Toya-Leclere, who was friends with the 11 women found dead on the west mesa, said such a program might have helped them.