Probation violators often released back to streets

Abran Apodaca was a three-time absconder before his arrest by an FBI-led task force earlier this month, the state Corrections Department says.

The agency’s probation and parole division supervised more than 17,000 offenders in 2016.

But about 1,700 offenders are considered absconders because they have “essentially evaded any and all conditions of supervision,” according to a 2016 Corrections Department report.

The agency proposed legislation in 2016 to make absconding a fourth-degree felony.

“At this point, there is no criminal penalty for absconding,” stated the report, which noted that Corrections had only 12 investigators available to attempt to locate and apprehend such offenders.

“Many absconders are often released by judges, right back to supervision with little or no prison time, only to abscond again,” the report stated. “A criminal penalty would likely deter some offenders from absconding and ultimately lower the number of absconders over time, to the benefit of public safety.”

The proposed legislation, introduced in the House in 2016, died in committee.

Meanwhile, the percentage of absconders apprehended over the past year has fallen due to vacancies and high caseloads, according to a recent Legislative Finance Committee report card for the Corrections Department.

The average caseload of a state probation/parole officer is the highest it has been in five years, averaging 115 probationers/ parolees per officer.

The vacancy rate for probation/ parole officers was 20 percent, the LFC reported.

Probation can be a “fantastic” tool to help offenders, said state Rep. Antonio “Moe” Maestas, D-Albuquerque, but rehabilitation is being hampered in part by the high caseloads.

“There’s just a finger wag, take a urine test and see you next month,” said Maestas, who co-chairs a legislative criminal justice reform subcommittee.