MDC inmate not expected to survive after his father says he was beaten up

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A Metropolitan Detention Center inmate was on life support and was not expected to survive as of Wednesday night. 

34-year-old John Sanchez no longer has brain function, according to his father Benny Jaramillo. The family expects they will take him off life support at the University of New Mexico Hospital Thursday. 

Jaramillo believes one or more people at MDC beat his son to death.

“It’s sad. It’s heartbreaking. We expect our kids to bury us. We don’t expect to bury our kids,” he said. 

Jaramillo says his son will leave behind two children, 15 and 9 years old. 

“It’s been hell. It really has. You don’t expect your kid to get injured or die in a place where they’re supposed to be taking care of him,” he said. 

A Metropolitan Detention Center spokesperson says on Monday Sanchez “was involved in two altercations” and also tried to escape. The jail and the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office are investigating. 

Jaramillo says it’s not clear whether it was other inmates, correctional officers or both who caused his son’s injuries. 

“He was a good kid, a really good kid,” he said. 

The road that led to Sanchez ending up in jail is full of tragedy and struggle, as his father explained. 

Sanchez’s 2-year-old daughter died in 2012, Jaramillo says. 

Then, Sanchez became addicted to fentanyl, a powerful opioid causing pain and death across the state and country. 

Jaramillo believes his son would have been having serious withdrawal symptoms in jail.

“He shouldn’t have been with the public. He should have been in a room by himself or with a nurse,” he said. 

Sanchez has a few arrests for stealing. Jaramillo says those incidents all go back to fentanyl. 

“He was just trying to feed his addiction,” he said. “He doesn’t deserve to be dead in there.” 

Sanchez’s family wants to know exactly what happened inside MDC. 

“We’re wanting to get to the bottom of this,” Jaramillo said. “He didn’t deserve to die.” 

In an arrest document, a state police officer says Sanchez landed in jail because they found him inside a stolen car. 

But prosecutors dropped the charges Friday, saying they didn’t have enough evidence to prove Sanchez was the one who stole the car. 

Sanchez is wanted for shoplifting in Sandoval County. Jaramillo believes that on Monday his son was waiting to be transferred there.