The Detention Center
Luna County Detention Center
- Operated byLuna County (county department)
- Who runs itRobert Apodaca — Warden, Luna County Detention Center. Reports to: County Manager
- How this was establishedThe county lists detention as its own department separate from the Sheriff's Office; the reporting line itself is not published.
- BedsMaximum capacity 610 detainees
- Year built2000
- DesignDirect-supervision facility using walls and glass partitions rather than bars
- StructureTwo departments — Administration and Adult Detention
- Phone575-546-0191
- Standards citedNew Mexico Adult Detention Standards and Federal Performance-Based Detention Standards
- ProgramsAdult education via tablets, religious services, commissary, detainee workers, library, work release approved by the courts and the Warden
Source: Luna County Detention Center — About The Center · checked 2026-08-24
Transparency rating
4/10Partial- ✓The jail is named
- ✗Who is in custody — not published
- ✓Beds and daily population
- ✓What it costs taxpayers
- ✗Deaths in custody — not published
- ✓PREA audits
- ✗Independent inspection — not published
- ✗Who else it holds, and for how much — not published
- ✗How to post bond — not published
- ✗Phone, video and commissary rates — not published
The Building
You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.
- Year built2000
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- Beds610 maximum capacity
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Thomas Eby
- Runs the jailNo — the Luna County Detention Center is a separate county department headed by a Warden
- UndersheriffRichard Huerta
- Sheriff's office phone575-546-2655
- How the office is filledElected county sheriff
- Name variantThe New Mexico Sheriffs' Association county list records the Luna County sheriff as 'Mike Eby'; the county's own staff directory lists Thomas Eby, Sheriff
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Luna County staff directory · checked 2026-08-24
The Judges
New Mexico district and magistrate judges are state judicial officers, not county officials. A judge is initially appointed by the Governor from a judicial nominating commission list, then stands in the next partisan general election, and thereafter faces non-partisan retention elections. The Sixth Judicial District covers Grant, Hidalgo and Luna counties; the district's judge pages name no chief judge.
Sixth Judicial District Court — judges sitting in Luna County (Deming)
- Jennifer E. DeLaney (Division II)
- Jarod K. Hofacket (Division IV)
Luna County Magistrate Court
- J. Scott Chandler (Luna County I, Deming)
- The county's bond schedule
- Share of the jail population held pretrial
- Median time from booking to first appearance
Source: the state judiciary · checked 2026-08-24
The County Commissioners
They pay for the jail. The sheriff runs it.
- What they controlThe detention budget, the building itself, and the agreements that let other agencies rent its beds.
- What they don'tDay-to-day operations. The sheriff is separately elected and answers to voters, not to the board.
- The boardBoard of County Commissioners →
- Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →
Notes on the record
- Luna County runs its own jail as a county department headed by a Warden; the elected sheriff is not the jailer.
- The county publishes annual PREA reports for the detention centre (2020, 2021, 2023, 2024 and 2025 annual reports are linked from the PREA page). The 2023 report, opened at https://www.lunacounty.gov/2023%20Annual%20PREA%20Report20240110143425.pdf , confirms the facility is capable of housing 610 inmates.
- The county publishes approved budgets for FY2018-19 through FY2025-26. The FY2025-2026 budget (https://www.lunacounty.gov/FY%202025-2026.pdf) contains a '22600 Jail - Detention' line.
- The county maintains a Quarterly Restricted Housing Reports page under the Restricted Housing Act (H.B. 364, 2019) at https://www.lunacounty.gov/departments/detention_center/restricted_housing_reports.php , but at the time of checking it showed 'No documents'.
- Visitor information states detainees may receive up to two paid video visits per day plus two free 20-minute on-site video visits per week, but no phone, video or commissary rates are published — commissary and deposits are handled through vendor sites — so the fees check is recorded as no.
- No inmate roster and no bail/bond guidance were found on the county site. Pages checked: detention centre index, About The Center, Detainee Services, Visitor Information, PREA, Restricted Housing Reports, Sheriff, Commissioners, Budget-Procurement.
- NMSA 1978 §33-3-1 provides that common jails are under the control of the respective sheriffs, independent contractors, or jail administrators hired by the board of county commissioners.
- New Mexico has no mandatory statewide jail inspection body. The New Mexico Association of Counties runs a voluntary accreditation program; no NMAC accreditation status for Luna County was found published.
- NMSA 1978 §33-15-3, the death-in-custody reporting statute, applies to private correctional facilities only. New Mexico county jails have no state death-reporting requirement.
- The county has migrated from lunacountynm.us to lunacounty.gov; lunacountynm.us redirects there.
- Three-member Board of County Commissioners: Ray Trejo (District 1, Northwest), Colette Chandler (District 2, North & Southeast), Christie Ann Harvey (District 3, Southwest). The Board hires a County Manager — Chris Brice — who reports to the Board.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Luna County and what it costs the people who live here. Nationally, almost 77% of the people who died in local jails in 2019 had not been convicted of anything, and suicide was the leading single cause of those deaths (Bureau of Justice Statistics, Mortality in Local Jails, 2000–2019).
How much is your sheriff — and your judge — costing you?
Your VOTE is POWERFUL.
The sheriff who runs this jail is elected. So are the commissioners who pay for it.
Names verified 2026-08-24 · dollars and outcomes still being gathered