A New Mexico House panel has passed a solitary confinement reform proposal with no recommendation a week after a heated exchange sparked by a Democratic member ended a meeting.
The House Safety and Civil Affairs Committee voted 6-0 on Tuesday to move along a measure that would ban the use of solitary confinement on juveniles and inmates suffering from mental illness.
A meeting on the bill ended abruptly Thursday after Rep. Patricia Roybal Caballero refused to stop talking over the objections of Chairman William Rehm, who then adjourned the meeting. She questioned why anyone would oppose it, which led to the heated exchange.
Caballero, a Democrat, faced criticism last month when she compared the federal Real ID Act and repeal of the state's immigrant driver's license law to the Holocaust. She later apologized.
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