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| Officials: N.M. Jail Can Trap Unarmed Cop With Prisoner |
| By KOAT |
| Published: 07/21/2003 |
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Albuquerque police are not happy with the procedure for booking their prisoners into the Bernalillo County Jail. They say the procedure can leave them trapped, unarmed, with a prisoner in a small space for up to 30 minutes. A KOAT report said the jail is a state-of-the-art facility and is supposed to provide a speedier booking process. But APD Officer Ferris Simmons told Quinlan she'd only give the jail's booking procedure a D-plus. She told Quinlan getting her prisoners into the jail can be a nightmare. 'The last time I came out, I was stuck five to 10 minutes waiting to get in. I was stuck another 20 minutes in the sally port, which is 10-by-12 feet,' Simmons said. Quinlan said when a police officer arrives with a prisoner and wants to go in the jail, first the officer has to remove his or her weapons before going inside. Then, said Quinlan, the officer and the prisoner enter the sally port, wait for the first door to close, and then try to open the second door to go into the booking area. But Quinlan said that a lot of times the second door is locked and it can be 20 to 30 minutes before they are allowed inside the jail. Jail director Harry Tipton said the sally port doors open upon request, and when there are a lot of requests, officers sometimes have to wait. 'It (the request) may come in 10th or 11th in order. The officer in the master center doesn't know that request is there until they get through all the others,' Tipton said. That delay concerns officers like Simmons, who wonders what would happen if there was an emergency and she needed to get out. Quinlan said that even though there are correctional officers and medical staff on officer in case something happens, police say it shouldn't have to get to that point. Tipton told Quinlan he is proposing a keypad to be placed inside the sally port so officers could go in and out as needed. The jail director also said he will be meeting with police and county officials to try to iron out some of the wrinkles in the jail. |
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