Lawsuit: Guards mistook dentures for contraband, beat inmate

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A civil rights lawsuit says a man was brutally beaten by corrections officers and denied medical treatment at a county jail in New Mexico after guards mistook dentures for contraband.

A watchdog group for improving prison conditions in the state filed the federal lawsuit this week on behalf of former inmate Marvin Silva. The New Mexico Prison and Jail Project says Silva was beaten by guards and released with severe injuries and no transportation home.

Administrators at the Valencia County Adult Detention Center could not immediately be reached for comment. The jail’s health care contractor declined to comment.