Escape boosts opposition to probation office
Youth center will seek an injunction
The parole violator who slipped her handcuffs at a neighborhood parole office and hunkered down in an elementary school bathroom a week ago has intensified protests from Downtown youthserving organizations about the plans for putting a probation and parole office within 250 feet of a youth center.
Also, the board for Warehouse 508, a youth art and entertainment center, intends to find funds at its meeting this month to pay for an attorney and file an injunction against the state to delay its acquisition of the $2.3 million Plaza Maya building in the 600 block of First NW.
“We’re that serious,” said Warehouse 508 executive director Andy Braman. “... We’re just after the governor to put the nix on the whole thing, especially in light of what happened on Friday.”
Parole violator Samantha Amos, 23, slipped out of her handcuffs last Friday after her parole officer tried to send her back to jail. Amos then fled to Monte Vista Elementary School in the university area and hid in a boy’s bathroom before being quickly arrested. How Amos got out of the double-locked cuffs is still under investigation.
New Mexico Corrections Department officials said their plan to consolidate two leased probation and parole offices into the Plaza Maya building makes sense because the building sits in the city’s judicial area, which includes the Community Custody Program, local courts and various law enforcement agencies.
“For us, it really makes sense for us to be where the offenders already are,” said Corrections spokeswoman Alex Tomlin.
The Monte Vista parole office largely deals only with offenders convicted of nonviolent offenses, while a second office in the 100 block of Gold SE serves offenders that presumably pose greater risk to the community.
Braman said parents are concerned about both groups of offenders, particularly after Amos’ escape, and have said they won’t bring their kids to the youth center should the building plan go through. The Playa Maya building sits about 250 feet from Warehouse 508, 700 feet from YMCA’s Child Care Center and 150 feet from Youth Development Inc.
The state’s 60-day review of the building to inspect for structural or other issues will be up in a couple weeks, according to a state Government Services Department spokesman. If that review is satisfactory, the Board of Finance will vote on authorizing the funds, at the earliest, at its June meeting.
Tomlin added that the Amos escape is the first at the Monte Vista location, as far as anyone can remember, and that the department has “made a promise” to ensure public safety should it move into the Downtown building.