MMIW Cases

Sovereign Bodies Institute filed this request with the New Mexico Corrections Department of New Mexico.
Est. Completion None
Status
No Responsive Documents

Communications

From: Sovereign Bodies Institute


To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:

Data on all cases of deaths in custody involving an Alaska Native/American Indian woman or girl victim within your jurisdiction(s). For the purposes of this request, "Alaska Native/American Indian" is defined as any individual who was identified as a member of an Alaska Native or American Indian community or as having Alaska Native/American Indian heritage. "Woman or girl" includes all victims identified as females, as well as transgender women. We are requesting cases dating from 1900 to the present.

This request is for basic information on cases as classified above. Such information may include but is not limited to victim name, location and date of disappearance/death, age of victim, status of case (solved or unsolved).

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 15 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Annita Lucchesi

From: New Mexico Corrections Department

Ms. Lucchesi: I am in receipt of your request below. You made this request to the New Mexico Corrections Department. The Department houses inmates in its prisons, and supervises offenders on probation or parole. It would not be the agency to provide you with the detailed information you are seeking about female Alaska native/American Indian victims. This agency does not track or possess this information.

If I have misunderstood your request, please let me know. Otherwise, the Department's response is that it has no responsive documents.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Jim Brewster
General Counsel
New Mexico Corrections Department
P.O. Box 27116
Santa Fe, NM 87502-0116
(505) 827-8662
(505) 827-8685 facsimile

From: Sovereign Bodies Institute

Mr. Brewster,

Thank you for the quick response. I am requesting information on cases of death in custody involving a Native woman inmate (adult and juvenile). That would be under the purview of the Corrections Department, correct?

Thank you,
Annita

From: New Mexico Corrections Department

We don’t incarcerate juveniles. That would be the Children, Youth and Families Department. I will check next week on what if any data we have regarding Native adult female deaths. Please provide a time period: last two years, last three years?
Sent from my iPhone

From: New Mexico Corrections Department

We just checked our records back to 1994, which is far back as they go. We have had very few adult female inmate deaths in custody, and no Native female inmate deaths. We don’t have any responsive documents.

Jim Brewster
General Counsel
New Mexico Corrections Department
P.O. Box 27116
Santa Fe, NM 87502-0116
(505) 827-8662
(505) 827-8685 facsimile

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