Report: Blanket around inmate's neck

PORTALES — On his entry June 12 to the Roosevelt County jail, Manuel Silva, Jr., 23, was “classified as a maximum security detainee” and “housed in a single occupancy cell.”

Officials found him in that cell two days later unresponsive. They declared him dead less than an hour after that.

According to an in-custody death report submitted Monday by Jail Administrator Justin Porter and obtained Tuesday by The News through a public records request, Silva was found around 3:45 p.m. June 14 in his cell.

His body was “leaning towards the bunk with a blanket around his neck,” the report showed.

Deputy TJ Gibson wrote that he “heard an ambulance being dispatched to the Roosevelt County Detention Center” around 3:45 p.m. that day and “heard dispatch giving the ambulance an update, stating the male subject had hung himself and that they were conducting CPR,” according to the initial report on the incident from the Roosevelt County Sheriff Office.

On arrival at the jail, Gibson found two male officers and a nurse in Cell 5 of Dayroom 1, “conducting CPR on a male subject later identified as Manuel Silva.”

Gibson took over CPR duties from one of the officers until a Portales Fire Department ambulance arrived, at which time Silva “was moved from cell 5 into the Dayroom” for personnel to work. Fire responders then “continued to work on Manuel for a short period of time, before they told (Gibson) that they were not getting any signs of life.” Medical Examiner Delbert Rector arrived and Manuel was pronounced dead at 4:20 p.m.

Silva was booked into the facility at 10:46 a.m. June 12 following a judge’s approval the day before of a transport order. Silva was previously held in the Curry County Detention Center and transported pending an August court appearance on charges of murder and armed robbery. The charges were in connection with the April 7 shooting death of Adam Holts in Portales. Silva was among four charged in connection with the incident. He was arrested a week later following a high-speed police chase in Clovis and remained in custody since then.

During his intake June 12 to RCDC Silva met with a mental health counselor and “was not identified as being a risk to himself,” according to Porter’s report. As a maximum-security detainee he was “housed in a single occupancy cell, allowed time daily to conduct personal hygiene and recreational activities by himself.”

Silva’s mother, Myra Abeyta, told The News last week that her son would “never, never, never” take his own life and that she last spoke to him June 13. Abeyta said she and Silva’s step-father were still “out to get justice.”

Porter’s report said the “policy governing checks was reviewed” following the incident and that the “emergency response was appropriate given the situation.”

Mental health and counseling services were provided to staff on duty during the incident and “to the detainees that were housed in the dayroom of the event.”

Porter’s report said staffing at the jail on June 14 included three administrative staff and shift staffing of one sergeant and five officers, but gave no indication of the last time Silva was checked in his cell prior to being discovered there unresponsive.

Porter made no mention of the incident during his regular jail administrator presentation Tuesday morning before the Roosevelt County commission.

Sheriff Malin Parker said last week that a final report on the incident investigation was pending completion of an autopsy by the Office of the Medical Investigator in Albuquerque.