County manager defiant in wake of vote

Corrections officers question leadership

Change is tough. That’s the message from Bernalillo County Manager Julie Morgas Baca in response to a no-confidence vote against the Metropolitan Detention Center’s administration.

Leaders of the Bernalillo County Correction’s Officer Association announced the no-confidence vote Friday, although the unanimous vote of the union’s executive board took place on Feb. 7. The vote came seven months after Tom Ruiz took over as interim administrator.

“Our primary concern is now and has always been the safety and security of the staff, and that translates to the inmates,” Stephen Perkins, president of the union, which represents more than 300 MDC corrections officers, told the Journal. About 200 rank and file union members signed onto the no-confidence measure.

The union states it has no faith is Ruiz’s leadership and that his abilities are not appropriate for leadership at MDC. The union also chastised Jonathan Thomas, the jail’s interim assistant chief of ethics and compliance, calling him “a threat” to employee safety.

Neither Ruiz nor Thomas commented on the no-confidence vote Friday.

But Morgas Baca was quick to defend them.

“I have full confidence in jail administrator Tom Ruiz and my entire leadership team that’s working hard to reform the Metropolitan Detention Center for the better,” she said. “Change — even positive change — can be difficult for employees and institutions. I’ve included the union in this effort from the beginning of my administration, and will continue to do so with an open door.”

Morgas Baca said the county has worked for years to improve

living and working conditions at MDC and is now positioned to become a national leader on jail and mental health reform. The county has been able to reduce the inmate population, and last year a federal judge adopted a settlement that outlines a path to ending 20 years of litigation over conditions inside MDC.

But along the way, the county has clashed with the union. In one case, Sgt. Eric Allen, a supervisor and vice president of the Correction’s Officer Association, was placed on paid leave for months in connection with an investigation into allegations of excessive force.

A video obtained by the Journal shows an inmate lying on the floor sobbing and Allen telling another jail officer, “Put her in a wrist lock and twist her wrist until she shuts up and stops crying.”

Perkins at the time said there was no policy violation. He also said he believed the county was retaliating against Allen because of his union work.

Perkins on Friday outlined the union’s concerns in a letter to county commissioners.

“This vote was due (to) willful failure to comply with the collective bargaining agreement and the exceedingly ineffective and non-existent leadership, which have eroded the work environment to unsafe levels,” Perkins wrote.

He cites the creation of the ethics and compliance assistant chief as an example, saying that the position was a carbon copy of a position already in existence but given to what he called an unqualifed county employee.

“Despite the admonition that safety is a priority, it increasingly is placed on a back burner as other priorities take precedent over officer safety…,” he states.

MDC is one of the 40 largest jails in the country. The facility has more than 500 employees and about 2,200 beds for inmates.