New Mexico State Penitentiary riot
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The New Mexico State Penitentiary Riot, which took place on February 2 and February 3, 1980 in the Penitentiary of New Mexico south of Santa Fe, was one of the worst prison riots in the history of the American correctional system: 33 inmates were killed, more than 100 inmates were treated for injuries, and seven of 12 guards taken hostage were treated for injuries suffered during beatings and rapes. Surprisingly, amid all the chaos, none of the guards were killed. Author, Roger Morris in The Devil's Butcher Shop: The New Mexico Prison Uprising suggests this number may be higher as a number of bodies were incinerated or dismembered during the course of the mayhem.
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[edit] Contributing causes to the riot
Multiple causes led to the riot and the entire fault did not lay with the inmates; the correctional staff were also to blame. Their lack of training, as well as a shortage of staff, overcrowding, a lack of consistent policies, and poor communication between the staff and inmates were some of the key contributing factors. Others included the lack of programs (educational and rehabilitative), poor quality food, and failure to separate prisoners. Prisoners and staff had been in turmoil because of these factors.
The correctional staff used a form of manipulation they called the "snitch game." They would label a certain prisoner as a snitch if he did not cooperate. The prisoner would then be stigmatized and subject to abuse by fellow inmates. This would hopefully lead to the labeled prisoner ending up hating those prisoners who abused him, and "snitch" their information to the heads of the penitentiary. This also hampered attempts to get actual information from inmates.
There were 1,136 inmates in New Mexico State Prison on the night of the riot February 2 1980, living in a space that was designed for nine hundred (Schmallger and Smykla, 2001 McGraw/Hill Companies, Page 317).
Roger Morris states much of the corruption was tolerated by New Mexico Governor Bruce King, his Director of Prisons, Felix Rodriguez and prison officials Robert Montoya and Manuel Koroneos. According to this author, prison officials were forwarned about the outbreak before it happened but dismissed these reports.
[edit] New Mexico Prison riot
The riot took place on the morning of Saturday, February 2nd 1980, when guards entered dormitory E-2 on the south side of the prison. Four out of fifteen guards were taken hostage during the first few minutes. One of the guards fled and left behind keys to open most of the prison gates (Holmes). Inmates began to come out of the prison seeking refuge at the fence where the National Guard had assembled. Some guards were released, but others were taken hostage and assaulted. At the start of the riot, eighty prisoners who wanted no part of the disturbance fled to the baseball field. They were later joined by hundreds of other inmates who escaped the violence within the prison.
Official sources state that thirty-two inmates were tortured, dismembered, decapitated, or burned alive by fellow inmates (Schmallger and Smykla, Copyright 2001 McGraw/Hill Companies page 317), though other sources give higher numbers. Twenty-three of prisoners that were killed were housed in the protective custody unit, in other words, the real or alleged "snitches". In fact some of these inmates were weak, mentally ill or convicted of sex crimes. One inmate died later from riot-related injuries. Thus, bringing the official total to Thirty-Three. Over two hundred inmates were treated for injuries sustained during the riot (Mark Colvin in Descent into Madness by Mike Rolland, 1997 Anderson Publishing Company).
Morris states that Cell Block 4, a segregation unit where the alleged "snitches" were housed was separated by the rest of the prison by a steel grill. Rioting inmates used acetylene torches to burn through the grill. It took several hours for the inmates to accomplish this, from the hours of 2 AM to 7. While this occurred inmates in the cell block were trapped in their individual cells. They yelled and signaled to the State Police who were waiting outside. The police did nothing to save those inmates trapped inside, though it would have been possible for them to enter through a back door of the cell block either by employing a locksmith or welding open the security door.
Fifteen correctional officers were on duty the night of the riot. Twelve were taken hostage, and seven of the twelve were beaten, stabbed, burned, or sodomized. However, none of the hostages were killed (Mark Colvin in Descent into Madness by Mike Rolland, 1997 Anderson Publishing Company).
[edit] Results of the riot
There were some prosecutions of inmates for crimes committed during the uprising. According to Morris, most crimes went unpunished. The longest sentence given to any convict was 9 years. Much of the evidence was lost or destroyed after the riot because of looting by State and local police officials.
Some changes occurred due to an inmate lawsuit filed prior to the riot, which forced federal oversight of New Mexico prison for two decades (Gallagher).
According to Morris, King's administration resisted attempts to reform the prison and spent thousands on legal defense. During that period many witnesses were harassed. It was not until the administration of Toney Anaya that the suit was settled.
[edit] Other References
The thrash metal band Exodus_(band) talks about this riot on their song "The Last Act of Defiance" on their 1989 Fabulous_Disaster album.