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ABQ inmate transferred to Texas jail before sentencing

Family says son was moved 12 hours away

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ABQ inmate transferred to Texas jail before sentencing
Family says son was moved 12 hours away
The deadline to fix the overcrowding problem at the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center has come and gone.Now, families of inmates who've been transferred out of state said the county is moving the wrong suspected criminals.Tanya, who didn't want to give her last name for fear her brother would be treated poorly in jail, said he was moved before being sentenced here in New Mexico."We understand; you do the crime, you pay the time," Tanya told KOAT Action 7 News.Her brother was arrested three weeks ago for violating his probation. He wasn't sentenced, and just a few days ago, was transferred to a facility in Polk, Texas, nearly 900 miles away."I think they should send people who've already been sentenced. He hasn't gone to court yet," Tanya said.Nataura Powdrell, the spokesperson for MDC, wrote in an email that Tanya's brother's situation is not the norm. The county tries to transfer only inmates who've been sentenced. As for those who haven't, they'll be driven back and forth from their new facility to court in Bernalillo County.Powdrell said contracts with the out-of-state facilities call for weekly trips at no extra cost.But Tanya and her family said that's not their only concern. Tanya said her family wasn't even notified when her brother was moved."We didn't get no call. My dad found out because we were going to go visit (my brother.)" she said.She added that she's worried about the kinds of conditions her brother is enduring as he sits for 12 hours, handcuffed, on the shuttle from eastern Texas to New Mexico."I don't like having my brother this far away. It's sad," she said.Tanya's situation is not isolated.KOAT Action 7 News received a letter Monday from another concerned family member of an inmate, saying that that prisoner was transferred to a facility in Torrance County, which the write said is just as crowded as MDC.

The deadline to fix the overcrowding problem at the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center has come and gone.

Now, families of inmates who've been transferred out of state said the county is moving the wrong suspected criminals.

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Tanya, who didn't want to give her last name for fear her brother would be treated poorly in jail, said he was moved before being sentenced here in New Mexico.

"We understand; you do the crime, you pay the time," Tanya told KOAT Action 7 News.

Her brother was arrested three weeks ago for violating his probation. He wasn't sentenced, and just a few days ago, was transferred to a facility in Polk, Texas, nearly 900 miles away.

"I think they should send people who've already been sentenced. He hasn't gone to court yet," Tanya said.

Nataura Powdrell, the spokesperson for MDC, wrote in an email that Tanya's brother's situation is not the norm. The county tries to transfer only inmates who've been sentenced. As for those who haven't, they'll be driven back and forth from their new facility to court in Bernalillo County.

Powdrell said contracts with the out-of-state facilities call for weekly trips at no extra cost.

But Tanya and her family said that's not their only concern. Tanya said her family wasn't even notified when her brother was moved.

"We didn't get no call. My dad found out because we were going to go visit (my brother.)" she said.

She added that she's worried about the kinds of conditions her brother is enduring as he sits for 12 hours, handcuffed, on the shuttle from eastern Texas to New Mexico.

"I don't like having my brother this far away. It's sad," she said.

Tanya's situation is not isolated.

KOAT Action 7 News received a letter Monday from another concerned family member of an inmate, saying that that prisoner was transferred to a facility in Torrance County, which the write said is just as crowded as MDC.