ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico corrections guard under investigation after two violent inmates escaped from a prison transport van also has been accused of leaving inmates unattended in a hot van.
The cases raise questions about the handling of prisoner transports in the state.
Officials disclosed in documents obtained by The Associated Press that Taracina Morgan and Michael Ortega were in charge of transporting two violent felons who escaped at a gas station on March 9. Both were later apprehended.
The guards are on administrative leave amid an investigation into the escape and any possible misconduct.
Morgan is named in a lawsuit filed last year that says she and another guard left inmates in an unventilated transport van for up to an hour in 2013.
A corrections spokeswoman says the department investigated and didn't find her guilty of the accusations.