Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court

The Metropolitan Court system was established in 1980, all judges are elected by eligible voters in Bernalillo County.

There are no term limits in the court system and elections are partisan.

Persons being held for trial at the Metropolitan Court, or convicted of misdemeanors and serving sentences under 12 months, are incarcerated in the county jail facility, the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC), about 10 miles west of Albuquerque, on a rural mesa.

Construction was completed in 2002, to replace the overcrowded, in-town county jail near the courthouse.

It is the county’s largest public facility, and single greatest consumer of electricity, using, for example, 12,627,000 kilowatts in 2012, at a cost of $981,563.