LAS CRUCES, NM — Six people who were held at the Doña Ana County Detention Center (DACDC) filed a lawsuit today seeking to end the jail's practice of conducting violent, unwarranted paramilitary training operations on incarcerated people. The lawsuit was filed in the Third Judicial District Court against the Doña Ana County Board of County Commissioners. The plaintiffs, Mario Banda-Alicea, Tyler Cole, Jonathan Silva, Jeremy Dean Smith, Mario Carrasco, and Zachary Gonzales, are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico, McGraw & Associates, LLC and Smith & Marjanovic Law, LLC.
"They turn normal everyday stuff into a nightmare," said Mario Banda-Alicea, a plaintiff in the case who now takes medication for PTSD. "We'd be in the pod—hanging out, getting a haircut, minding our own business—and they'd come in like we're terrorists or something. Guns pointed at us, making us crawl on our hands and knees. For what? We weren't doing anything. I was just trying to be a better person. Now I can't sleep right. I have nightmares about them coming back, about them hurting me. They treated us like guinea pigs for their training games."
Doña Ana County Detention Center's Special Operations and Response Team (SORT) was purportedly created to handle high-risk situations like riots and evacuations. Instead, SORT has routinely terrorized people detained in DACDC and used them as live training subjects for new cadets. Video evidence shows SORT officers storming pods, pointing military-grade weapons, and using flash bangs during haircuts and while people are sleeping—without warning or provocation. They shout conflicting commands, point weapons at compliant individuals, and taser people for asking questions. SORT has conducted at least 112 such operations since January 2023, escalating routine situations into violent training exercises.
"SORT's needless, violent actions serve no legitimate purpose—they amount to psychological torture that tears people apart and offers no benefit to anyone," said Lalita Moskowitz, senior prisoners’ rights attorney at the ACLU of New Mexico. "It achieves the opposite of safety and security. These paramilitary operations traumatize people, most of whom are presumed innocent and awaiting trial. After enduring these violent raids, individuals struggle with severe PTSD, nightmares, and constant fear. When people are released back to their communities, they return damaged rather than rehabilitated."
"The whole first year and a half was just horrible. I've never been through anything like that," said Jonathan Silva, a plaintiff in the case who has 75% hearing loss and wears hearing aids. "From losing my hearing aids to being physically injured, it's crazy."
Silva's hearing aids were broken when officers shot a flash bang near his head in his cell. The jail did not repair or replace them for almost four months, and his hearing doctor told him that flashbang guns fired in a cell will harm hearing. In another incident, Silva was tased because he couldn't hear officers' commands—his hearing aid battery was dead because officers had refused to let him charge it the day before.
The other plaintiffs in the lawsuit describe similar patterns of trauma and abuse. Cole experienced violent operations at least once a month for nearly a year and said SORT officers told him they were using detainees to train new officers. A SORT officer fired so close to Smith, who was doing nothing wrong at the time, that he felt the heat pass by his leg. Carrasco described being woken in the middle of the night by flash bangs with tasers pointed directly at his face. Gonzales now experiences fight-or-flight responses to loud noises and yelling. All of them now struggle emotionally, and several have required medication to cope with psychological trauma.
In one incident on August 8, 2024, SORT raided the same pod twice—once at 4 a.m. and again at 7 a.m.—firing flash bangs to wake terrified people, then rushing cells with taser threats against half-asleep individuals lying face-down with their hands on their heads. Officers would not allow people to dress before escorting them out at taser-point.
"Many of our clients were not convicted of a crime and were simply waiting for their day in court," said Meg Sparrow, an attorney with Smith & Marjanovic Law, LLC. "DACDC is a place of terror. Our clients describe living in a war zone, subjected to paramilitary operations at all hours of day and night. The county has destroyed people's mental health and then released them back into our communities with deep psychological wounds. That's not justice—that's creating more harm."
"This lawsuit seeks not only compensation for our clients, but also a court order to permanently stop these operations," said Andre Archuleta an attorney with McGraw & Associates, LLC. "Doña Ana County has a duty to maintain safe, constitutional conditions in its jail. Instead, county leadership has enabled a rogue unit to operate with impunity for years. We're asking the court to hold them accountable and ensure this never happens to anyone else."
The lawsuit charges that SORT's actions violate the New Mexico Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
The complaint can be found here below.
