LEGISLATIVE REFORMS

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In addition to ongoing litigation, Coyte Law, P.C. works with legislators and organizations to fight for legislation that improves prisoner conditions and aids in reforming the criminal justice system.

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Proposed House Bill 191: The Corrections Ombudsman Act

In 2021 an effort was made to pass an act that would create civilian oversight of New Mexico’s prisons. The bill, sponsored by representatives Micaela Lara Cadena, Antonio Maestas and Gail Chasey, gained bi-partisan support throughout the legislative process, but somehow failed to reach the Governor’s desk. The need for independent oversight of our prisons and jails cannot be overstated. Corruption will always flourish in closed systems such as these unless an effort is taken to oversee the expenditure of public money. Proposed House Bill 191 would have allowed an independent civilian ombudsman’s office to investigate abuses of public trust in the prison system and to provide much needed sunshine into an otherwise secretive governmental department. Matthew Coyte will continue to push this bill forward in future legislative sessions and he looks forward to the day when a Governor has the courage to sign such a bill into law.

House Bill 364

​In 2019, House Bill 364 was successfully passed after years of fighting to reduce the overuse of restrictive housing and improve the inhumane conditions of solitary confinement across New Mexico jails, prisons and other detention facilities. House Bill 364 prohibits the use of restricted housing for inmates younger than 18 years of age, pregnant women, and inmates with severe mental disabilities and requires correctional facilities to produce quarterly reports on their current restricted housing populations. Matthew Coyte was instrumental in getting this bill passed and continues to lobby for legislation on behalf of New Mexican inmates.

Children and pregnant women no longer allowed in solitary confinement in NM
​July 20, 2019
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A long-sought set of reforms to the way New Mexico jailers and prison officials use solitary confinement kicked in July 1, barring the practice for certain populations and starting the clock on what civil rights advocates and lawmakers hope will lead to unprecedented transparency on the controversial practice in the state.

Effectively immediately, pregnant women and children can no longer be held in solitary, and beginning in November prisons and jails around the state will start publicly reporting how many people are being held in solitary. Insufficient data has for years frustrated lawmakers’ and others’ ability to understand the scale at which solitary confinement is used in the state’s jails and prisons. 

​State Rep. Antonio “Moe” Maestas, D-Albuquerque, co-sponsor of  House Bill 364 during the legislative session that concluded in March, sent a letter to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s administration and officials who run the 33 county jails across New Mexico, reminding them of the new statute’s requirements.

New law renews focus on inmate restricted housing
November 3, 2019
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Harrison said the Corrections Department calls the practice “restricted housing” rather than “solitary confinement” because inmates are allowed out of their cells for two hours a day in which they can have “meaningful contact with corrections officers” and time alone in the yard.

Over the 2019 legislative session, lawmakers passed House Bill 364, the Corrections Restricted Housing Act, which bans the practice for juveniles and those with serious mental disabilities.

The bill also mandates that the state Corrections Department and county jails compile quarterly reports detailing the inmates they have placed in those units.

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Bail Reform

​Although the New Mexico Constitution has prohibited unreasonable bail, the historical practice throughout the court system was to use large monetary bonds as a prerequisite for pre trial release. This has historically resulted in overcrowded jails and created an environment where unconstitutional conditions of confinement could flourish. Citizens without enough money would spend long periods of time in jail waiting for their trial, whereas people with resources could buy their freedom. The mentally ill suffered the most under this system as they frequently were denied bail while waiting for competency proceedings to run their course. In 2016, this system of monetary bail was upset by the passing of a constitutional amendment. Paradoxically, this amendment expanded the number of people who could be held without bail, provided they were shown to be dangerous, yet required pre trial release of almost everyone else.

During the change in New Mexico’s bail system, Matthew Coyte was invited to sit on the Supreme Court’s committee tasked with writing the rules implementing the Constitutional Amendment. Also, as a representative of the New Mexico Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, Mr. Coyte was appointed a member of the Bernalillo County’s Criminal Justice Coordinating Council.
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Top NM court official: Bail reform working as intended
November 25, 2019

SANTA FE – A top New Mexico court official pushed back Monday on recurring criticism against a 2016 bail reform measure, citing figures that indicate criminal defendants released before trial are not the driving force behind high violent crime rates in the Albuquerque area.
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Artie Pepin, director of the Administrative Office of the Courts, said University of New Mexico researchers found that 83% of released defendants during a recent nearly two-year period had no new arrests while awaiting trial. And of those arrested, only a small number were accused of committing first-degree felonies that are typically the most violent types of crimes...
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Compromise on NM bail system passes House
February 15, 2016

Legislation that would allow for for judges to withhold bail for defendants who pose a danger to the community, but also waive bail for defendants who are in jail only because they cannot afford it, passed the House unanimously on Monday.
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The passage came quickly because the House put the legislation on a fast track. In one day, the legislation passed a House committee and the House voted to remove it from another...

Bail reform goes to voters
February 18, 2016

SANTA FE – New Mexico voters will have their say in the November election on a proposed amendment to the state Constitution that would allow judges to hold dangerous felony defendants without bail pending trial...

Coyte Law, P.C.

3800 Osuna Rd. NE Suite 2
Albuquerque, NM 87109
Phone: (505) 244-3030
Fax: (505) 672-7088