The Detention Center
San Miguel County Detention Center
- Operated bySan Miguel County
- Who runs itAntonio Padilla — Warden, San Miguel County Detention Center. Reports to: County government (Board of County Commissioners / County Manager) - the Detention Center is a standalone county department, not part of the Sheriff's Office
- How this was establishedThe county lists detention as its own department separate from the Sheriff's Office; the reporting line itself is not published.
- Jail address26 NM 283, Las Vegas, NM 87701
- Department structureListed on the county site as its own department, separate from the Sheriff's Office
- What was triedhttps://co.sanmiguel.nm.us/departments/detention_center/index.php ; .../staff_directory.php (staff table empty) ; .../statement_from_the_warden.php (statement text not served) ; .../finance/index.php (no budget documents)
Source: San Miguel County Detention Center · checked 2026-08-24
Transparency rating
1/10Closed- ✓The jail is named
- ✗Who is in custody — not published
- ✗Beds and daily population — not published
- ✗What it costs taxpayers — not published
- ✗Deaths in custody — not published
- ✗PREA audits — not published
- ✗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 builtNot found
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- BedsNot found
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Chris Lopez
- Runs the jailNo - the San Miguel County Detention Center is listed as a separate county department with its own warden
- How the office is filledElected county sheriff
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: San Miguel County Sheriff's Office · checked 2026-08-24
The Judges
New Mexico judges are initially appointed by the Governor to fill a vacancy, then must run in a partisan election at the next general election, and thereafter face non-partisan retention elections. District and magistrate judges are state judicial officers, not county officials. San Miguel County is in the Fourth Judicial District; a magistrate court also sits in the county, but no county-specific magistrate page was reachable.
Fourth Judicial District Court - Chief Judge
- Flora Gallegos (Division III)
Fourth Judicial District Court - District Judges
- Michael A. Aragon (Division I)
- Abigail P. Aragon (Division II)
District serves
- Guadalupe, Mora and San Miguel counties
- 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 →
Notes on the record
- The county sheriff's page links a detainee lookup hosted at a bare IP address rather than on the county domain; it was not opened and is not counted as county publication.
- New Mexico has no mandatory statewide jail inspection body. The New Mexico Association of Counties runs a voluntary detention accreditation program; no accreditation status for San Miguel County was found published.
- NMSA 1978 Section 33-15-3, New Mexico's death-in-custody reporting statute, applies to private correctional facilities only. County-operated jails have no state death-reporting requirement.
- Colorado also has a San Miguel County; every source cited here is the New Mexico county.
- Board of County Commissioners, offices at 500 W. National Ave., Suite 200, Las Vegas, NM 87701. Meeting agendas are hosted off-site on a TownCloud portal linked from the county site; that portal was not opened.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in San Miguel 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