ALAMOGORDO Attorneys for detainees at the Otero County Detention Center say they are finding it increasingly difficult to get information about the health of their clients amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since early December, attorneys with the Law Office of the Public Defender in the 12th Judicial District say they ve attempted multiple times to get copies of these health records via inspection of public records requests to the county. But because of the pandemic, county officials said the request for the physical copies of the records are too burdensome.
Instead, county officials told LOPD its officials could visit the facility and make copies. Because of the pandemic, LOPD Attorney Dayna Jones said sending attorneys to a location that may be experiencing a high number of COVID-19 cases was out of the question.