The jail or jails in each county shall be used or be available for the detention of every person who, within the same county, is charged with any crime or properly committed for trial or for the imprisonment of every person who in conformity with sentence, upon conviction of an offense, may have been sentenced, and for the safekeeping of every person who shall be committed by competent authority according to law.

History: Laws 1865-1866, ch. 19, § 2; C.L. 1884, § 469; C.L. 1897, § 822; Code 1915, § 3034; C.S. 1929, § 75-102; 1941 Comp., § 45-202; 1953 Comp., § 42-2-2; Laws 2001, ch. 51, § 1.

Compiler's notes. — The 1915 Code compilers deleted "or for the imprisonment of every person or persons who shall be sentenced to imprisonment in the penitentiary, until a penitentiary shall be built" after "may have been sentenced" and deleted "provided, that each prisoner shall be kept in the county in which the offense may have been committed" from the end of the section.

Cross references. — For exception to section in cases of magistrate courts more than 50 miles from county seat, see 33-3-21, 33-3-22 NMSA 1978.

For duty of sheriff to notify relatives of deceased person, see 24-12-1 NMSA 1978.

For protective custody of intoxicated person pursuant to Detoxification Act, see 43-2-19 to 43-2-21 NMSA 1978.

The 2001 amendment, effective June 15, 2001, added the section heading; substituted "The jail or jails in each county shall be used or be available for the detention" for "The jail in each county shall be used for the retention"; deleted "or persons" after "person" in two places, and substituted "is charged" for "shall be charged".

Duty of sheriff to keep prisoners in custody pending appeal. — The district court has no power to commit prisoners awaiting trial or pending an appeal, which operates to stay execution of sentence in criminal cases, to state penitentiary for safekeeping, for the sheriff alone is authorized to remove such prisoners from the county jail to another jail or place of safety, and pending the determination of an appeal, it is the duty of the sheriff to keep them in custody. Parks v. Hughes, 1918-NMSC-094, 24 N.M. 421, 174 P. 425.

County may refuse use of jail by city without arrangement. — Neither the sheriff nor the county commissioners may limit use of the facilities of the county jail if the city has been using the jail with the county commissioners' consent, but if no such consent has ever been obtained by the city, then the county commissioners may refuse until some satisfactory arrangement is made by the county commissioners and the city. 1952 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 52-5608.

Persons violating state law confined to county jail pending appeal. — Those persons convicted of violation of state laws are to be committed to the county jail, and a municipality should not be forced to accept or pay for their upkeep while they are appealing to the district court. 1968 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 68-21.

Responsibility for expenses and upkeep of prisoners. — A county becomes responsible for paying the expenses and upkeep of prisoners arrested by municipal police on state charges at such times as the prisoners are delivered to the actual custody of the county jail, along with any necessary paperwork; a county becomes responsible for medical costs of indigent prisoners at the same time and in the same circumstances. 1985 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 85-03.