ACLU suit claims detention officers turned routine nights into war-zone drills, firing flash bangs during haircuts and sleep

Damien Willis, Organ Mountain News

LAS CRUCES - It was just after midnight, the lawsuit says, when the door to Pod C swung open and the first flash bang exploded. The blast echoed off the concrete walls, a white burst that stunned everyone inside — men playing cards, watching TV and one getting a haircut. Within seconds, armed officers in tactical gear rushed in, shouting conflicting orders.

No riot. No fight. Just another night inside the Doña Ana County Detention Center.

According to a 20-page complaint filed Thursday in Doña Ana County District Court, those midnight raids weren’t emergencies at all. They were training drills staged by the jail’s Special Operations and Response Team, or SORT — a paramilitary-style unit accused of using people in custody as live props.

The plaintiffs, most of whom were awaiting trial at the time, say they were treated like enemy combatants rather than detainees in county custody.

The lawsuit, filed by six former detainees and backed by the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico, describes at least 112 of these “operations” since January 2023. It claims SORT officers fired flash bangs inside locked pods, pointed weapons at compliant detainees and used Tasers on people who couldn’t hear or understand commands.

One plaintiff, Jonathan Silva, says a flash bang fired near his head shattered his hearing aids and left him partially deaf. When the batteries later died, officers refused to let him recharge them. The next day, unable to hear their orders, Silva was tased.

Another, Mario Banda-Alicea, told attorneys he still wakes up from nightmares about the raids.

“We’d be in the pod — hanging out, getting a haircut, minding our own business — and they’d come in like we’re terrorists or something,” he said in the ACLU’s announcement. “They treated us like guinea pigs for their training games.”

The raids

The lawsuit describes at least 112 late-night operations since early 2023 — random, unsanctioned drills that turned locked pods into flash-lit war zones. Officers fired 12-gauge “Bore Thunder” flash bangs, each as loud as a jet engine, then shouted conflicting commands — “On your feet!” and “Get on the ground!” — that left people disoriented and crawling for safety.

One plaintiff recalled a night when SORT stormed the same unit twice in three hours — once around 4 a.m. and again around sunrise. Another said he was still half-asleep when officers dragged him into the corridor at Taser-point, barefoot and shirtless.

“It was like being in combat,” the complaint reads. “Except nobody was fighting back.”

Inside SORT

The Special Operations and Response Team began in 2019 after the county hired a private contractor, Tactical and Operations Group of the United States, to train selected detention officers in military-style tactics — including “controlled F.O.R.C.E. operations,” a branded program focused on compliance holds and close-quarters control techniques developed by a national security-training company called Controlled F.O.R.C.E. (an acronym for “First Official Response in a Critical Environment”).

According to its website, the company’s mission is to teach officers to “operate with control and confidence” in high-stress situations. But in the Doña Ana County jail, the lawsuit claims those lessons evolved into a standing paramilitary force — one that stormed pods in the middle of the night, firing flash bangs and Tasers at detainees who posed no threat.

SORT’s stated purpose was to handle riots and emergencies. In practice, plaintiffs say, it became a standing army within the jail — a unit equipped with AR-15s, 9 mm handguns, shotguns and tactical vests, conducting raids for training or intimidation rather than safety.

The plaintiffs’ stories

Each of the six plaintiffs offers a version of the same nightmare.

Mario Banda-Alicea described SORT turning “normal everyday stuff into a nightmare.” He now takes medication for PTSD.

Tyler Cole said raids struck his unit monthly for nearly a year. Officers told him they were “training new SORT cadets.”

Jeremy Dean Smith said a flash bang fired inches from his legs left burns. Mario Carrasco described being placed in a pod and beaten by nine other inmates after helping Spanish-speaking detainees file grievances. Detention officers, he claims, did not intervene.

Zachary Gonzales now flinches at loud noises, convinced another raid is coming.

The cover and the silence

In a statement to Organ Mountain News, Lalita Moskowitz, senior prisoners’ rights attorney with the ACLU of New Mexico, said the Detention Center’s Special Operations Response Team “serves no legitimate purpose; it simply terrorizes and psychologically tortures captive victims.”

“These operations achieve the opposite of safety and security,” she said. “They leave individuals detained in Doña Ana County damaged rather than rehabilitated — struggling with severe PTSD, nightmares and constant fear that they will carry back to their communities.”

Moskowitz said the ACLU obtained extensive video and photographic evidence of the raids through public records requests while investigating the case. The complaint also accuses the county of spoliation of evidence, alleging that detention officials deleted or withheld key video recordings that could have documented additional raids or use-of-force incidents. It further claims that DACDC personnel deleted the team’s public SORT Instagram and YouTube accounts, which had previously showcased footage of training exercises and operations.

The county has issued only a single line of response, telling Organ Mountain News, “As a policy, the County does not comment on pending litigation.”

What happens next

The plaintiffs are seeking a court order to permanently end SORT operations, along with compensatory damages and attorney fees under the New Mexico Civil Rights Act.

“The county has enabled a rogue unit to operate with impunity for years,” attorney Andre Archuleta said in the ACLU’s announcement. “We’re asking the court to hold them accountable and ensure this never happens to anyone else.”

Organ Mountain News has submitted records requests related to the operations and oversight of the detention center. The newsroom will continue to follow this story as it develops.

Damien Willis is founder and editor of Organ Mountain News. If you have a personal story to share or a lead we should follow up on, reach out at OrganMountainNews@gmail.com or connect with him on X at @damienwillis.