ALAMOGORDO, N.M. (KRQE) – The mother of a 26-year-old inmate is suing after she claims officials failed to prevent her son’s suicide in the Otero County Detention Center.
After being booked into the detention center in mid-2023, Jacob Gutierrez showed signs of suicide and even told a visiting police officer that he had intentionally swallowed eight fentanyl pills, a possible suicide attempt, the lawsuit alleges.
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Following a stay at the Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center, Gutierrez returned to the detention center, Gutierrez was not properly watched, the lawsuit claims. Gutierrez’s mother claims that the lack of oversight led to multiple suicide attempts. Eventually, staff found Gutierrez had killed himself with a cord from a phone.
“The jail knew Jacob was suicidal,” Mallory Gagan, an attorney at the New Mexico Prison & Jail Project that is representing Jacob’s mother, said in a press release. “He even said so to them. It was obvious that Jacob’s actions were a series of desperate cries for help. There is no plausible justification for housing a suicidal inmate in a cell with a readily-available noose without observation. This devastating outcome was entirely avoidable.”
Gutierrez’s mother is asking for compensation and punitive damages. The lawsuit places blame on Otero County Commissioners, detention officers, medical staff, and the company operating healthcare at the detention center, Vital Core Health Strategies.
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