Lawsuit: New Mexico county failed to monitor suicidal inmate

SILVER CITY, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico county that held an inmate struggling with drug addiction failed to properly monitor him before he took his own life, according to a federal lawsuit.

The wrongful death lawsuit involving Fernando Rodriguez filed last week in U.S. District Court alleges that Grants County correctional officers ignored crucial signs about the inmate’s mental health and left him alone in solitary confinement for at least three hours, though he was on suicide watch.

Rodriguez was arrested in September 2018 following a physical altercation connected to drug use, court documents said.

Correctional officers didn’t document that he had “needle marks” on his body and didn’t classify him as having a drug addiction, the lawsuit said. Court documents said his drug use had been previously reported to the Grants County Sheriff’s Department.

The lawsuit said Rodriguez was placed in solitary confinement under a suicide watch. But court documents say guards neglected to watch him and the camera in the cell didn’t work, attorneys for the Rodriguez said.

Grants County Manager Charlene Webb said the county had no comment.

The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount in damages.