New Mexico's state capitol building

Supported by the Crime and Justice Institute (CJI), the multi-agency task force looking into unification of New Mexico’s jail and prison systems released its findings to the state legislature last week. The SM6/HM11 Task Force outlined 29 recommendations to better understand and address justice system challenges.

Funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) within the Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs, CJI provided technical assistance to the task force as a nonpartisan justice system expert. In this role, CJI partnered with local corrections and justice leaders in analyzing quantitative and qualitative data along with identifying issues and possible solutions. The task force report underscores the depth of New Mexico’s challenges at the state and local levels and the urgency of continuing the task force’s work.

Read the full report here and the recommendations here.

News coverage of the task force:

Task force recommends against unified corrections system (CJI’s Celeste Gander quoted)

Task force finds New Mexico shouldn’t combine jails and prisons (Gander quoted)

Task force: Prison and jail administration should not be combined ‘at this time’