Governor comes under fire for early release of 700 inmates

By T.J. Wilham

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    ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (KOAT) — Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is coming under fire in recent campaign attack ads over a policy she implemented during the pandemic that allowed 700 prisoners to be released as many as 30 days early.

In a campaign ad, Republican Challenger Mark Ronchetti is blaming the governor for the state’s crime problems and points to an executive order she issued in April 2020 as a cause.

“She personally ordered the early release of hundreds of dangerous criminals,” the ad claims.

The executive order was rescinded shortly after the ads started to air.

“So, the governor is the head of the executive branch, has the ability to say, now we’re going to release inmates if they’re within 30 days of their release date,” said KOAT legal expert John Day.

In addition, the order says the person being released can’t be serving a sentence for felony DWI, domestic violence, assault and assault on a police officer. They also can’t be a sex offender or serve time for a firearm enhancement.

“The reality is those 700 were going to be released anywhere from one to four weeks anyway,” Day said.

Target 7 combed through this list and found on average prisoners were released 19 days early. They include people who were doing time for robbery, drug dealing and extreme cruelty to animals.

The governor’s office has acknowledged that nine of the 700 people released early went on to get arrested again before they would have ultimately been released. Target 7 has asked for that list and neither the corrections department nor the governor’s office have released it.

“So, I think it’s something you have to sort of understand what the specifics were of the nine people who violated the release conditions,” Day said. “Was it a new crime? Was it failure to report? Was it testing positive for drug use? And until we know that, we don’t know the full effect.”

Ronchetti’s ad points out that some of the offenders went on to commit other crimes like one of the suspects in what the FBI called the largest fentanyl bust in its history.

Target 7 also found one of the offenders — a Roswell man — had been arrested for murder after being released. However, he was arrested nearly a year after they would have been released anyway.

“If you have 700 inmates and you look at the recidivism rates, which are people who re-offend after being released from prison, it’s probably pretty equivalent,” Day said. “And the 30-day window wouldn’t have made much of a difference one way or the other.”

The order was in place for nearly two and a half years. The corrections department was keeping track of all of its COVID-19 cases on this website. In August, it showed there were no cases. Just this week — the corrections department took down the site.

“This doesn’t surprise me in the sense that this order was in place,” Day said. “It was apparently recently rescinded. Whether that had something to do with politics, you know, that your guess is as good as mine.”

Target 7 requested to speak to the governor about the order. Her office sent a statement saying, “…it was rescinded in conjunction with recent corrections department updates to pandemic protocols, in line with updated health guidance…..as you can see in the executive order itself, it had strict parameters in order to protect public health in the face of a new and quickly-worsening global pandemic without being a detriment to public safety. Similar executive orders were implemented in many states across the country.”

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