Dr. Karla Thornton noticed a troubling pattern. Starting in 2004, Thornton, an infectious disease expert at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, was tasked with helping train medical providers working in the state’s prisons to treat hepatitis C, a blood-borne liver disease that can cause serious damage if left untreated. But new infections […]
Criminal Justice
Posted inFeatured
Trouble with the law
Moriarty Police Chief Adan Urbina and one of his officers, Christopher Costa, spent the summer of 2023 taking inventory of everything in their evidence room. The pair began the tedious work of inspecting and cataloging the boxes of seized possessions after Cpt. Mark Satterfield, the lone evidence custodian for this small police force some 40 […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
When a call for help ends in gunfire
A new lawsuit in the 2024 fatal police shooting of teenager Elijah Hadley could shed light on a persistent problem in New Mexico: an outsized portion of police violence begins with a welfare check
Posted inCriminal Justice
Protect and serve: Did county officials enable Ryan Martinez’s violent actions at a 2023 protest in Española?
Two survivors have filed suit against Rio Arriba County office-holders, alleging that their civil rights were violated when they failed to control dangerous conflicts surrounding the proposed reinstallation of a statue depicting Juan de Oñate
Posted inCriminal Justice
Inside the manslaughter conviction of a Las Cruces police officer
Before Brad Lunsford was charged with manslaughter for the 2022 shooting of Presley Eze, Searchlight New Mexico analyzed hundreds of police shootings across the state. We showed that officers are almost always found to be “acting in the line of duty” after killing someone.
Posted inNew Mexico's Children
Why so many Catholic churches file for bankruptcy
As sex abuse scandals continue to haunt the Catholic Church, many dioceses are turning to Chapter 11 as a way to settle hundreds of claims at once.
Posted inNew Mexico's Children
Darkness visible: the University of New Mexico’s archive on the sexual abuse of children by priests
A collection of documents about clergy abuse in this state — housed at UNM’s special collections library — is a major step forward for victims, but there’s more to be done.
Posted inFeatured
Christmas behind bars
One year ago, all eyes focused on living conditions at New Mexico’s largest juvenile jail. We haven’t looked away.
Posted inFeatured
Protect the innocent: the public health promise of Kayden’s Law
A new bill modeled on the federal Violence Against Women Act could safeguard New Mexico’s children from the traumatic and sometimes dangerous consequences of divorce
Posted inCriminal Justice
The historical tensions that motivated Ryan Martinez have not gone away
In a Searchlight essay from 2023, centuries-old conflicts at the heart of this crime were deeply explored