Authorities are investigating the deaths of two Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) inmates.
A 57-year-old man was pronounced dead at about 3:30 p.m. Sept. 19, about 90 minutes after jail staff received a call regarding an inmate in medical distress. MDC personnel and a medical team from University of New Mexico Hospital attempted life-saving measures, but the inmate died at UNM Hospital.
A 37-year-old man in the MDC Community Custody Program (essentially house arrest) was pronounced dead the next day. Program officers received notification that the inmate had not submitted to a scheduled alcohol test, according to a county news release. When he failed to respond to a message through his GPS monitoring system, program officers went to his most recent known location, on Yale Boulevard, where they found officers from the Albuquerque Police Department, who informed them the man had died.
County officials say the deaths were unrelated and will be investigated by local law enforcement. In addition, the release states, each incident is under review by the MDC Office of Professional Standards.
The official causes and manners of death will be determined by the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator, the release states.