Stop The ACLU Blogburst - You Do The Math!

The ACLU Money Scam coming to a courtroom near you.

State, ACLU settlement will cost $700,000

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
March 23, 2006

SANTA FE (AP) - A settlement reached by the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico and the state Children, Youth and Families Department over conditions within the juvenile justice system will cost the state more than $700,000.

The two sides signed an agreement last month that requires security improvements, increased mental health programs and rehabilitation services in juvenile detention facilities across the state, among other things.

Also under the agreement, the ACLU promised not to pursue litigation as long as CYFD makes a good faith effort to implement changes.

The money part of the settlement includes $220,000 for the six months that ACLU attorneys spent preparing their lawsuit and $400,000 for the attorneys to monitor CYFD's compliance over the next four years.

Another $85,000 was paid to six former residents of the New Mexico Boys School in Springer and one former female resident at an Albuquerque juvenile jail as compensation for physical injuries received from guards and other inmates and for insufficient medical and mental health care.

Attorney and former juvenile jail superintendent Justin Pennington said paying the ACLU to hold CYFD accountable is "nonsense" because the organization is not in a position to enforce the settlement agreement.

"The better course would have been to file the case and have it enforced by the court," he said.

Peter Simonson, the organization's executive director, said the ACLU is in a better position to monitor CYFD because of its expertise.

As for the teens who were compensated, ALCU attorney Peter Cubra said seven will receive about $12,000 each because of civil rights violations while in juvenile jails. One teen suffered a broken arm at the hands of a guard and another wasn't treated for hepatitis, Cubra said.

Outgoing CYFD Secretary Mary-Dale Bolson said the payments were not an admission that any harm was done but a response to "large-scale threatened litigation."

That equates to a half a million dollar take for the ACLU through bullying and possibly extortion. It seems to me that the only ones being fairly (well) compensated are the ACLU and NOT those whose rights were violated. And asking attorneys to monitor compliance is like letting the ACLU be judge, jury, and executioner.

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