September 13 – A man died Thursday morning from an apparent suicide in the Santa Fe County Jail.
George Matthew Montoya, 50, was found unresponsive in his cell at 11:22 a.m. after a “self-harm incident,” district spokeswoman Olivia Romo wrote in an email.
The circumstances surrounding Montoya’s death were unclear Friday. Romo declined to provide further details about the incident or answer questions about whether prison officials followed suicide prevention protocols in connection with Montoya.
Santa Fe County Jail policies and procedures require staff to receive training to identify potentially suicidal inmates and refer them for behavioral health evaluation and possible close monitoring. Inmates who have self-harmed or are believed to be actively suicidal must be placed under constant surveillance, while those who have a history of self-harm or who have expressed suicidal thoughts must be placed under 15-minute behavioral health monitoring, according to the jail’s suicide prevention policy.
Montoya’s death is the second in Santa Fe County Jail in 2024, following the apparent overdose death of 37-year-old Dominique Livingston-Esquibel in March.
Inmate suicide attempts have increased in recent years at the prison, according to Santa Fe County figures. There were 20 attempts in 2023, compared to seven in 2022 and nine in 2021.
Montoya was arrested by Santa Fe police on September 7 and booked into Santa Fe County Jail. Police accused him of being responsible for a series of burglaries and credit card thefts in the city last summer.
The agency announced in a news release that officers arrested Montoya after he was suspected of stealing a wallet at a Trader Joe’s on Cordova Road. Police said they linked him to a string of other thefts in recent months and charged him with 13 counts of residential burglary, four counts of credit card theft and three counts of fraudulent use of a credit card.
Montoya had not received a medical clearance before being booked into the jail, Police Chief Ben Valdez said. “There was no use of force and no complaints of injuries.”
Montoya was arraigned on September 9 and ordered held in supervised custody. However, he was still being held on several other outstanding warrants issued in recent months, including charges of identity fraud in Sandoval County and credit card theft in Santa Fe.
