New Mexico detention center tries to figure out how to provide care for inmate with muscular dystrophy

From The Daily Times in Farmington, N.M.:

AZTEC, N.M. — San Juan County Adult Detention Center officials are giving around-the-clock care to an inmate suffering from muscular dystrophy.

Joseph Mendoza, 19, was arrested March 25 for shoplifting from the Safeway grocery store in Aztec. Mendoza, who suffers from the degenerative muscle disorder and is confined to a wheelchair, is accused of shoplifting a bottle of Vodka and trespassing. He also had a previous warrant.

"It's difficult," Detention Center Administrator Tom Havel said of the required care. "He has some unique conditions that we have to be able to handle."

He was transported to the detention center by ambulance because police were unable to take him in the car, Aztec Police Sgt. Todd Charles said.

A store employee saw the teen, who previously was banned from the store for shoplifting.

The employee stopped Mendoza as he was attempting to leave and noticed the bottle hidden on his right side, according to police records.

The teen told a store employee he wouldn't go to jail because he was in a wheelchair and that he would just get a ticket.

This is not the teen's first encounter with police.

Mendoza was passed out in the motorized wheelchair in public in 2009 and was charged as a minor in possession and drinking in public. He failed to appear to a November 2009 court date and Municipal Judge Barbara Aldaz-Mills issued a warrant for his arrest, Charles said.

Aldaz-Mills declined to comment on the case.

Mendoza was to be arraigned in Aztec Municipal Court on March 29, Charles said.

Havel is confident the jail can take adequate care of the young man, but extra personnel might have to be called to work.

"Basically he needs 24-hour care," Havel said. "Jail is not an appropriate environment for someone of this medical condition."

Havel compared the situation to inmates who are psychologically challenged.

"It's a dilemma," he said.