Penitentiary of New Mexico Riot; 5; Historic Film Collection, Video 0005

I'll explain for you a little bit more about what happened at the February 2nd Siege at the New Mexico State Penitentiary. 33 inmates, as I'm sure you know by now, were killed, property damage and the tens of millions of dollars in that riot at the State Penitentiary. It all started about 2 o'clock in the morning last Saturday when a number of inmates in a cell block directly east of the control center called a guard to their control center. The guards entered that dormitory, the guards were overpowered, their uniforms were taken off, and the inmates then proceeded out of their dormitory and down the hallway towards the control center. Apparently this grill, this iron gate, was open and not closed at the time that occurred. The gentleman inside the control center saw all these people coming down the hallway, apparently thought to himself, I'll wait till I get between these two doors, then we'll trap him inside and we will have them. However, the inmates managed to break a 1 1 1 ¼ inch thick glass panel at the control center and they then gained entrance to the control center.

That gave them the control of the State Penitentiary. The guard in the control center then took off on the 2nd floor, went out the front door of the office and took with him another guard who was stationed there and at that point the people in tower 1 were notified there were problems inside the Penitentiary. A short time later, nearly the entire world became aware of the problems inside the Penitentiary. The happenings at the New Mexico State Penitentiary last weekend went against all grains of recognized corrections procedure. The National Guard and the police were not sent in early, that in the opinion of many was a mistake, at least that's what people thought at the time. But no guards were killed, only inmates were killed by other inmates and that is the difference between this prison riots and others in this country. In Albuquerque, Mary Ingersoll has spent some time talking with one of New Mexico's experts in corrections. Howard Leach was corrections secretary from 1970 to 1975. In 1971 some 500 inmates revolted at the state prison. That's about the same number involved in last weekend's uprising.

Leach says that although the same number of people revolted, he handled the situation completely differently and had the 1971 riot under control in an hour and a half. He talks about it then. At that time we had one or two days notice that there was a problem. We were at that time with Felix Rodriguez and the pleasant correction secretary, we're ahead of the correction division. Feeling fuel inmates began to come to meals and finally on the last day they were locked up in their individual units. I then went to Maurice Sanchez who at that time was the chairman of the collections commission. Maurice is a very clear thinker and we evolved some principles out of which we felt we should handle this. In fact, based on these principles, from Maurice's office we call the governor, the governor King at that time and asked him not to come to the swole, the riot.

At this time, the governor did get involved with negotiations. The futility of the situation they're in and the need for food and medical attention and the different care that the inmates are realizing that by far the best solution is to come and work with us. And I think that's basically the thing that is beginning to develop. We've been given an ultimatum that at one thirty in the afternoon we either had to exceed to their demands or they were going to as I recall, tear the place up. Our reason for calling the governor was that we felt it was a mistake to bring the head of state government down to the point where a group of inmates by virtue of coercion had brought the head of government down to the point where he had to negotiate and we felt that this was an unviolent principle that should not be undermined in any way. We also felt that while we had a responsibility to each individual inmate and did not have

a responsibility to negotiate with groups, in other words, part of our plan was that we would assure inmates that we would meet with them individually, if they had legitimate gripes, we would take care of them to the extent that they were reasonable, but we did not have a responsibility to negotiate with groups and we would not. But this time prison officials and others did negotiate with the inmates. Right now we're trying to show good faith, we're trying to again mediate this particular thing out and see what the concerns are, see if we can reach a reasonable decision on things, try to address their concerns. We then put on paper memographed our demands on the inmates, our response that we would treat them fairly in the sense that we would treat each individual fairly, but we would not negotiate, they would have to return to the program, participate in the program or face the consequences. These were distributed throughout the units and I think even as I recall, even before they were completely distributed, the place blew up.

Subsequently, we sent the guards in with tear gas and with force and it ended about an hour and a half, we had to place under control. But this time when the troops went in, very little force was used. Combination of state police, national guard, law enforcement and personal officers. The prisoners came out and went to the higher left as you face the interweaving and laid down on the grass as they were asked to do so. The squad's went in, there's not been a shot fired, but the blood resistance is no resistance. The inmates came out of their own free will then, that's correct. By negotiation, there's so many of the state is retaking control of the prison, all the cyclical areas, so all the foot areas. We are gaining control very rapidly, we're trying to move in the fire trucks and we will be in shape very quickly, so we're doing just fine. How do you think corrections officials handled this riot and see? You say to you and your people, an hour and a half to quell that riot.

This thing has taken a couple of days. I think the principles that we talked about just a few minutes ago would apply in this situation. I frankly think that it's a terrible position for a collection minister to be replaced in, particularly when hostages are people that you work with and know for 15 or 20 years, just like being in a place in a position where almost you have to take an accident, jeopardize the safety of the family, that I think the fact is that the power rested with the administration and the only power that the inmates had was driven to them at the point that they were the decision made to negotiate, that had that purpose and a sense been taken away, and a strong show for us made from the beginning, from the very outside, there's a good chance in my opinion and I think it would have turned out otherwise. Mary Ingersoll, I witness news for.

It has been very difficult for us to obtain interviews with the inmates who were there the night of that disturbance last Saturday. However, the demands they were making are not all too different from the demands you hear from all other people across the country when they talk about jail conditions and prison conditions. A number of former inmates who are now seeking a life outside the walls have talked about life in the big house, and Susan Muchigimbo was there to listen. It's now a week since the violence broke out at the New Mexico State Prison. For most people, the initial numbing shock of what took place behind the walls during those 36 hours has passed. And now that there's time for thought, the question is why? What caused the rampage against human life and property that is almost beyond comprehension? Law students at the University of New Mexico got the unique opportunity to explore that question with people quite familiar with prison

life, those that work outside the walls, and those that have lived inside. And as you listen to the opinions of these people, you sense an anger and frustration, and you realize it's not aimed at the warden or the correctional department, but rather at a system born of fear. And fear is the single most debilitating emotion a human being can have, because it is a very complex problem, but in order to solve the problem, you find that most people in order to feel more secure, and this includes the legislature of this state or any state, will come up with simplistic answers, like mandatory sentencing for specific crimes. No one is made to work in the penitentiary of New Mexico. A lot of people think that you're going to go up there and you're going to start working. They tell you if you don't want to work,

no problem. And under the end determined sentencing, you had an incentive to work, you had good time, you get 15 days a month, you know, for good hard work. Now with the determined sentencing and flat time, there's no incentive to do anything but just lay there and what comes. And I don't see any light of getting out, so why should I abide by the rules? Why should I respect another in me? But when I first went to the penitentiary, the women's division was in such a shambles that there were no programs at all, none at all for women. It seemed that the feeling was that women belonged at home in kitchens, taking care of the husband and the babies, and so if they got themselves into trouble and dared to enter into the penitentiary, well, the thing to do was just lock them away and leave them, forget about them until their time was up, and to offer them nothing because when they got out, that was what they were supposed to do, go back to the kitchen. There's all kinds of you and cry for this and that going on now because this is having some say

kill all of us, some say they should go the other way, and you got all this gray land, like the judge was talking about in between, whether there is anything specific, defined in law or anything else, to allow an individual to have the choice, whether or not they would like to straighten their lives up or not, when you live in a constant state of terror which many of the individuals do in there, I didn't because of who I am, but I've seen it and it's a heart rendering thing to see people treated like that, and the thing that used to aggravate me the most about all of it was it was our own selves doing it to each other. They treat you so shaggy that you can feel like a kick dog most of the time. When you get out, they're full of anger, and if it hasn't scared you to the point where you're always going to live with the fear of it, you try to hide that fear

by becoming violent, and then you end up back in the joining game. But why was violence directed at other inmates? That question puzzled everyone at this public forum, including the ex-convicts, the fact that inmates got access to drugs is only part of the answer. Perhaps another part is the brutal fact of day-to-day prison life, the prison mentality, especially where it concerns informants. That is the worst thing you can do. That's like treason in the United States. So I mean, put yourself in that situation, and I'm not condoning anything that they've done, but can you imagine when they walked up on this guy who caused them to have to be there 50-150 years with no chance of getting out? There's certain ways, and this is my own theory, that you kill a person. If he's in the community, and let's say you're using a knife, you're just sticking. Don't bother me anymore. If they're from another community, we don't like you guys coming over,

you're sticking for five times. But if you snitched on me and made me lose this, and this, I mean, you've done the worst thing, I got to see this guy die slow. None of these people condoned what happened, but they understood, and they had some answers to yet another, perhaps the most important question. How do you change the system so this won't happen again? And you don't put hardcore, which is what I was. Terrible criminals together, but these young guys, to victimize them and make them insane, and all of these things. You've got to have a facility where you don't mix butter and oil and gasoline, and all these things together. You keep each type to itself, and you keep them isolated in such a manner that they can respond to some kind of positive program. You have to talk to the people who have experienced it, like all of these people up here, to get an idea of what you have to do, and where you have to start. If you ask, what do we go from here, from district judge to ex-convict, they will say,

we have the chance to start all over again and do it right. But that may not happen, as long as the system of fear is stronger than the system of communication. This isn't much again, but I witness news for. Experts will be talking for weeks and months and years from now about what went wrong at the New Mexico State Penitentiary, what would cause an outbreak such as they had there. The talk has already begun, as you've seen in this program, and how Bryce of our staff has located another one of the experts. It was an expression of incredible brutality, you see. And in the humanization, and in lack of hope, of any hope. And I think that at a given moment, they decided to destroy themselves and everything around.

Dr. Pedro de Veed is the chairman of the sociology department at the University of Mexico. Back in 1971, there was a mass demonstration at the state pen and Santa Fe, a demonstration which prompted the writing of this book. It's about the lives of five of the convicts who are in the penitentiary at the time of the disturbance. Now, they are close and strange similarities between the 1971 incident and what happened last weekend. Overcrowding was a problem. Homosexuality was a problem. Interpersonal and interracial violence was a problem. You could see now visiting Santa Fe as I did yesterday and on Tuesday that this event is perhaps one of the worst in American Penal History. After his days inside the ruins of the penitentiary, David says he feels the fuse that set off the explosion has been burning quite a while. The problem of institutionalization now, at least in Santa Fe, is that first these guys, after many years there, are used to be taken care of every need.

Each and every one of their needs, when they come to the free world, they could function. So they will be looking for alternatives to return. And of course, you know, there are some problems in the employment of ex-convicts, you see? The community sometimes is reluctant in hiring them. So you could see a vicious circle. Guys, after many years of being at the penitentiary, being a burden to the taxpayers in many thousands, thousands of dollars per year, they return to the free world just for a few months to discover that they have been institutionalized for life. And as for the way the hostage situation was handled, the situation developed so rapidly, such speed in such a violent overtones that the administration was caught by surprise.

You see, and by being caught by surprise, they had no alternatives figured out in order to react to the events. From the point of view of the administration, should the situation have been handled differently? My impression is that there is a rule in technology. And never negotiate until host hostages are returned. That was the lesson of Attica. You see, and in most prison riots, and now I've been an administrator, will negotiate until all the hostages are returned. This is a rule. In rehabilitation, it's more than a word. It's an easy word, but it's a very difficult objective to achieve. So would you say that in the past, it's been more like a cage for the prisoners? The warehouse of inmates. I think that if you see the need results of the son of a penitentiary,

you really see a lot of money going to waste. How price eyewitness news for? Governor Bruce King has perhaps felt a pressure both from the public and from the families. More than any other public official in New Mexico as a result of that outbreak at the state penitentiary. And this afternoon, we talked about what happened. Is there any way that you think that that thing could have been avoided? I don't know of any way that it could have been avoided. Of course, you rehash everything that happened in the year that I've been here and you just never see any type of indication that anything like this would happen. They just take the operation over and it's a strange, strange feeling when they wake up and about dead sleep, about 2.15 in the morning and say that they do not receive any answers or any communication at the state penitentiary and the lights are out and you don't know what's happening. So I don't know how that you would avoid this type of

situation. It was totally unexpected and of course others they had alerted but it's something that we do need additional type of security and we obviously had more prisoners in the institution than it was intended to house. It's intended to house, 850, 1136, but I think even the intent in this day and time had two large number of prisoners in one area. But can overcrowding really be considered a cause? Oh, I don't know that it could be considered part of the cause. I'd say the way that would be considered part of the cause is near as I can ascertain would be with the morale of those inmates. They indicated that they hadn't had as much time to exercise as they would like and I guess just the closeness would add to the problem of those that were housed in the institution of this type. So I don't know how much this contributed because the basic contributing factor from the very first

contact I made with some of those that had taken over was that their own statement were treated like a bunch of kids and we want to be treated like adults but then of course others then began to move in and it got completely out of hand after they had all of the cell blocks unlocked. Is there a place for blame? Where should it be placed? Oh, I don't know where the place for blame would be placed. I could think at least in places, I guess you could say Roger but I would just say that it's one of those type of situations that we're fortunate we got out of as well as we did and hopefully some good can come from it and we will look back I'm proud that we didn't lose a single one of our officers' lives and any lives that were taken were either taken by the inmates or they were taken by the inmates themselves. It must be somewhat disconcerting to realize that you were governor in 1971 when there were problems at the Finitentiary and your governor wouldn't have this big problem.

Oh, I don't know. It doesn't necessarily disturb me. I thought we had a very good run in 71, 2, 3 and 4. I thought we had about the quietest operation you'd have. I think they took over one cell block and I think they had a great deal of more disturbance than that during the years I was gone and I don't think there was things just happen overnight. You kind of build up to them and I do not know of anything that I could have done. I just happened to be here. You know, Roger and I think we had good people and I think that's where the chief executive would have to be accountable. I think that we show this by still maintaining the same personnel. I think Felix Rodriguez, one of the top prison officials in the country and certainly at our institution and I had him all four years as a warden and then I was rapidly working him back into that position. Is there anything that disturbs you personally and more than anything else? Well, the whole situation disturbs me. You wake up like it was an nightmare. You don't know how it

comes upon you or what the reasoning was. It's kind of like when you have a death in the family or something. It's just something that you always go over and you think, well, was there anything that I could have done that would have prevented this and I've gone through and through it and I can't think of anything that we could have done. I can think of many decisions I could have made that were certainly added to the extreme emergency nature of the crisis. By that I guess you mean the National Guard and the State Police could have moved in earlier. That's what all experts were recommending. They informed me that they had followed those for years. There's no way you would get all of the guards out. We had 13 guards being held hostage early on. Two of those released fairly early. We had 11 remaining and the other thing that they did tell me was that they knew that we would have a great deal of bloodshed both with our law enforcement official to our expert teams but also take many lives at the prisoners. But they said that's the only way that you broke those up. So I think that it all worked out quite well

and we are most appreciative of those that worked around the clock to try to resolve a very sticky situation. So we have ended one week of talk about problems at the New Mexico State Finitentiary, talk of death and dismemberment, talk of solving the problem by spending 80 million dollars or so to build a new maximum security facility and to rebuild what is left of the old building. It is the end of a week that no one in Santa Fe wants to ever live again. From the State Capitol, I'm Roger Bimer. I'm Roger Bimer, I'm Roger Bimer, I'm Roger Bimer, I'm Roger Bimer.

I'm Roger Bimer, I'm Roger Bimer. I'm Roger Bimer, I'm Roger Bimer. Good evening once again from the New Mexico State Penitentiary. A little over a month ago,

smoke was coming off the roof of that institution, flames were leaping out the windows, it was the worst riot in the history of the New Mexico Penitentiary. Tonight we're going to talk to some of the people who were directly involved, some of the inmates who were inside, some of the people who were on the outside, and at length we'll talk with eight off signs, the new director of the New Mexico Correctional System. It all started about 230 on the morning of February 2nd. Boxing me two o'clock this morning, I was notified that Captain Roy Ball had been taken hostage and the Pongoing Institution, the inmates had taken the keys from him and had opened that game control of the institution. The men are in there now, it's other than some burning, the definite inmate leaders that are in control, people aren't being hurt, they're trying to keep disposition on things, keep things under control,

we're negotiating with them, we're talking with them, and as things develop we will, I will keep trying to keep you briefed on three hour intervals as to what's developing. From that point on it was a continual parade of National Guard troops, state police and mounted patrol arriving and departing. There were National Guard helicopters leaving the pan headed for the hospital, carrying injured guards and injured inmates. It was 36 hours of curiosity on the part of the outsiders, news reporters and family had to rely on occasional news briefings, and information they monitored as the prisoners talked with officials on the institution's two-way radio system. From the air it was blatantly obvious that the building and its contents were being destroyed. The extent of the killings inside remained a mystery until late the second day. The first outside observer allowed inside the prison confines was Cameron Mike Shagroud. He was in there about 22 hours after it started, midnight Saturday,

and he listened and recorded what some of the inmates had to say. We're human beings just like anybody else around. We don't expect to be as a king here, but we expect to be true to their right. There's food that is very poor, there's medication that is not given when it's needed. The administration running this place here in the institution is abusive towards the people, they have no respect, there's a lack of communication with the inmates, visiting things is very poor. The night drew on, now into the second day, the siege continued. Negotiators at the main entrance included news reporters, state senators and prison officials. Finally, the National Guard and the state police moved in, but only after all the hostages had been freed. The prison or what remained was once again in the hands of the police and the civil

authorities. Inside was a multi-million dollar institution that had been ransacked. About a week after the uprising, half of the inmate population had been transferred to other prisons. Most of those that remained in Santa Fe were medium security risks. To this day, about half of the population that was there when it started remained somewhere other than Santa Fe. On numerous occasions during the last week, we've attempted to talk to some of the inmates who are now housed in Colorado or Arizona, but we have been unable to do so because officials at those institutions said the officials here in New Mexico said no, the press can't talk without. Next Wednesday, we'll get a chance to talk to some of the inmates and we'll tell you more about

that at that time. Mary Ingersaw, however, this week did get a chance to talk with at least two people who were inside the institution confined there on February 2nd. Below is the small southern New Mexico town of Carl's Bad. Up until now, Carl's Bad has been noted for the controversial waste isolation pilot project, but now at both several state penitentiary inmates who somehow managed to survive the violent February 2nd riot. This is 23-year-old Jeff Williams. He served two years out of a six to 30-year sentence for attempted prison escape, auto theft, and drugs. He had been paroled when the riot took place. During the riot, his right hand was cut off and doctors managed to save it. All told, he has received hundreds of stitches on his hand, back, and head. Injuries inflicted when other inmates tried to kill him. His 27-year-old brother, Gary, had only been in the prison for two days, under psychiatric observation for attempted arson when the riot came down. A friend of the Williams, David Crawford, was released from the pen shortly before the riot. He's on parole. What was the mood leading up to the riot?

I was sent up there for 60-day evaluation. I was down to D1, which everybody goes to D1 when they first go up there. It's got their quarantine, whatever. I've been there. I got there Wednesday, that noon, I guess, and it was Thursday before I even got down to where we would call it the process, send it or whatever. Got my picture took and some boots and stuff. I was just, you know, really bummed out about being there in the first place and I was Friday night. I watched the incredible hook on TV. I got up there and I rode a letter home. It was about midnight. I guess shortly after midnight, I heard all this commotion and stuff coming over to the PA system, you know, glass breaking and hollering and carrying on. I said, I must be, you know, dreaming or something. This couldn't be happening. Anyway, it just, you know, got heavy and heavy

and heavy as the hours went on, you know, and smoke started coming in and people running up down the corridor. Hey, they turned the lights off and we got off and, you know, I started to go to bed and, you know, wrapping between the bros there and, you know, there were, there weren't any extra tension, you know, but there was always tension, you know, constantly, you know, the hassles and, and maybe it was about 130, some like that a few minutes after. I don't remember what time it was. All of a sudden, man, hey, the door came open and about six or eight guys come running in and had a mask over their face. And today, we're taking the place, we're taking it and they run back to us and ask us to help. And we, you know, it was kind of a confusion. How were the inmates able to get control over a prison that was supposed to be so tight? It was nothing. It was easy,

you know, I mean, it was really easy. You wouldn't believe how easy it was. And the next, the, I stayed in, in the dormitory, you know, I stayed in dormitory B1, you know, hey, yeah, man, I was, I was, I was scared. I really was. I didn't know what in the heck, you know, I've just been asleep for five minutes and woke up and they just started opening doors and they opened every, ever dormitory except sublock one and D1 and then E1, which was the protection. E1, after they saw what was happening, they threw all their bunks up against the dorm. That's where all the snitches and punks and the guys that got off and switches were in, you know, to be protected. And they blockaded their doors and then they let out sublock three. That's all the gut, that's segregation. Death row is down there. All the guys, all the gut, the 11 that has escaped,

all the troublemakers, that's where they're put in. You know, if you make trouble, you go to sublock three. Everybody, you know, but was making weapons. They got out the knives and started breaking the legs off all the desk and arming their cells. I seen a gun come in. They hit the cafeteria, the butcher shop knives, every kind of weapon that, you know, you could think of, you know, everybody armed their cells. Everybody, we had masks over their face towels and hankers just over their face. I don't know, I've probably seen 8, 10 killings, you know. I seen Joe with dread, get his head smashed. It was about that big, blam, blam, blam, you know, it happens so, so fast. I seen a guy with a screwdriver stuck plumb through his ear all the way over to, you know, plumb through his head. I just hanging on against the wall. At one point,

I saw a hand floating along down the corridor. You know, I can't tell you that, you know, I seen anybody doing anything. Because you didn't know one person from another, just, you know, try to, try to save your own ass as far as some water amounts to. And, you know, the killings and stuff, he ever was involved or doing that that was, I don't know, it was their own thing, I guess. But I didn't say, I was, I seen bodies lying around, but I was, like, I've been there for two days and I was trying to find my brother, you know, I was freaked out. Nigger got his head cut off and his head was being carried around the corridor as a trophy, you know. But, I don't know, how you'd say it was a mass insanity, you know. God, you treat a man like an animal for years and years and he's going to become an animal.

You know, you're loving to get a head. I had a big stick and stuff, but I didn't have no intention on hurting nobody. I was just trying to, for your own protection, you know, play the part to stay alive and make it the best I could. I was 15 foot from the control center in blue, man, you know, 10, 15 dudes is on me. Why were they on you? If I knew, you know, I don't even know who they are, you know, I'm walking along and all of a sudden blue, man, I do, I see a knife and all of a sudden, you know, everybody's on me and I'm getting this whole stuck in me and beat all the hell. My hand was completely cut off except for the skin back here holding on. I had eight or nine stab wounds in me. All of these stab wounds from trying to protect myself and knife run, plump through my back and through my leg and if you can see it, all of those, yeah, there's 300 and some of the stitches took my head back together and that was just, that was when I was

attempting to get out and to turn myself in. People were shocked, man, by the intensity of the environment and the two face up there, you know. Before they never really gave it down, they read the paper about the stuff. But this guy, what about him? What a big deal, right? Hey, look now, they were shocked, man. I mean, they were shocked. Hey, it was awful. I mean, you know, it was unbelievable. People aren't good. I really would hate to see people actually see what happened, but what about now? What are we going to do? What are they going to do to change it? Change could be on its way. The legislature has appropriated $23 million for a new facility and there's a new correction secretary. Roger Bimer will have more on that later in the program. But much of the story of the aftermath of the state prison riot is not to be found behind the walls of the state pen. Some of it is to be found here at the state forensic hospital where criminals

who are mentally ill are treated. Five of the inmates who live through that riot are here now. I talked to three of the patients from the state pen. Actually, they should have been here even before the riot because all we're diagnosed is having long-standing mental problems. Psychologist Richard Fink says the harm they experienced during the riot, though, aggravated their existing mental disorders. They're very fearful. They had an overwhelming sense of helplessness. They were in a situation where they were just totally out of control. Things were happening to them around them in their site that they couldn't fathom and they couldn't control and they couldn't escape from. All the patients had been on medication since then sitting to help keep them calm. But both Michael Ortiz and Pete Romero have clear memories of what they saw. They went in and they told them are you a snitch and they just start killing them. And whoever they'd answer and they wanted nothing to do to just burn them up and stab them in

everything like that. And they hit them with pipes, whatever. That was pretty bad when they were throwing them down the tiers and from the third floor. In Sublock 3 I saw one body laying down on the floor up, up the floor looking forward. It was, he was dead. I think he was preemie in me that I known in the penitentiary. Were you afraid you were going to die? Yes sir. It's very dangerous. Well, when all every time at all time you feel like you're going to get killed in there because there's about James Kerry's club sticks and knives and they carried all kinds of things weapons. I never thought that I was going to see people die for no reason. And I did. I mean, it's pretty bad when you see somebody dying and you try it. Sometimes you think that you want to help them but you can help them because if you try to help them what they're going to do they're going to go to you to and kill you. Do you think you'll ever be able to forget what you saw

happened out there? No, I don't know. Probably not. Probably stayed for a while. Two or about two or three years. You know, because you never know if it's going to come back and you know happen again. The man with just no hair that always remember keeping my mind and then the face of how I saw the faces, how they looked, how they got beat up, how it would be in my mind. It takes a long time to get over it but I think that they probably will get over it to some extent as they're never going to forget it. It's always going to be part of them but because these people were taken out of there relatively quickly and did come into a more safe, more benign environment and did get some therapy involved with this they're probably going to recover from the immediate effects of this quicker and probably better than some of the people who were not mentally ill but

are still at the penitentiaries. At the State Forensic Hospital, Lee Williams eyewitness news for. It was in the summer of 1954 when construction was begun on what was to be called two years later, one of the most modern institutions of its kind, an eight million dollar prison facility south of Santa Fe. Since the cell blocks were first occupied, the interior of the institution has changed little. There were of course minor renovations and some updating of the security system and the cell blocks has been in the works for quite a while. The February riot has hastened the pace. This morning construction crews from Bradbury and Stam were putting the pieces back together. That is the pieces that could be repaired. New locks are being installed on the cell block doors. It's just the beginning of the repair job and this work is going on just one steel barricade away from where prisoners are now being housed and new fences have been constructed to protect

the construction workers from the inmates otherwise the contractors didn't want the job. How close to normal are things in the institution? I've got many of the cell blocks cleaned up. There are people in the cell blocks. We have dormitories with one exception that are in use now. We have classified all the men that are in the penitentiary at the present time. They've gone through our classification system. We think we have the men grouped properly in the respect of dormitories. The minimum security classification committee has met and has selected some men to continue to go to the farm and to Roswell and to Camp Sarah Blanca. The probe board is commencing to review those people that will be eligible for pearls. There are still some questions about the structural fitness of some parts of that building. The gymnasium I guess remains a question. Part of the kitchen area remains a question. What's the future there? Well the situation in the kitchen area is basically the kitchen itself wasn't destroyed that badly but the area underneath the kitchen where clothing was stored and this type of thing the heat was so intense

that it cracked the floor and the stress test, preliminary stress test indicate that it's not safe to go into. I might mention the dining room area where the men would actually eat that safe. It's just under the kitchen itself where the cooking went on and in the officers' mess where this is. What about the feeding of the people that are within the institution now? How are you doing that? The men are going out of their units to eat in the cafeteria with the exception of cell blocks six and cell block two. For those people the food is being taken they're being served in their individual cells. The food is being prepared downtown at the National Guard kitchen situation and it's being transported here and placed in food warmer situation trays are our steamers where it's kept hot until it's served. It's an awkward situation but because we can't get into the kitchen facility and there are any portable kitchen situations available to us at the present time that we can utilize it's just we're doing the best we can with the facilities that we do have available to us. Some facts and figures regarding the February takeover now in the prison

in Santa Fe 521 inmates 38 of whom are in the annex outside the big house 28 of whom are living in trailer homes 359 inmates have been transferred to federal correction centers 51 to state prisons in Oklahoma 49 to county jails in New Mexico 39 inmates have been taken to Arizona and 30 to Colorado we're paying the room and board for all those outside the penitentiary about a million dollars a month since the riot 47 inmates have been paroled another 21 have also been discharged what about the cost of quelling the riot and reconstructing during February the National Guard spent about four hundred forty thousand dollars three hundred fifty thousand was spent in rebuilding and rehousing eighty five thousand dollars by the state police for gasoline per diem and so forth thirty seven thousand dollars has been spent by the district attorney thirty six thousand by

the attorney general and twenty five hundred dollars by the public defender just two days before that prison riot occurred governor Bruce King appointed a new man to head the state government agency that directs the administration of the state's correction systems the man a former new Mexican who came here from Washington his name eight off signs he was not in the federal prison system at the time he was selected to take over this post in New Mexico but eight off signs is now in the job here in New Mexico and earlier this week I had a chance to sit down and talk with him and I asked him what he thought about how the whole thing started my feeling is that things were building up at the penitentiary we had a few individuals that had thought of creating some some problems at the penitentiary and they took the opportunity on that on that day February second I believe and they overpowered a guard they were able to

gain control of some of the cell block the thing mushroom and I think I think the key factor is they were able to break break into the control room once they broke into the control room they had control of the whole facility perhaps carelessness on the part of those guards gave them the opportunity but the thing mushroom once he broke into the control center they had control of the facility so there might have been some kind of scattered plan to do this but nothing definite to say we're going to do it this night at this time and this is how we're going to do it that's my feeling on it that there was some talk among inmates to create problems to create disturbance any investigation that's underway are you looking to point the blame at one individual

or one group of individuals within the institution no no we will not the intent of the investigation being conducted by the attorney generals to to determine the causes of the uprising and the events that followed and what actions was taken by corrections officials to regain control and information on the aftermath I think the investigation will give us facts that will enable us to reach some conclusions which we don't have at this time so still to spending millions of dollars housing inmates and other facilities it's going to go wrong for quite a while how long well it's hard to say right now at the present time the governor and the secretary for finance and administration has given us priority in getting all the resources we need to recover portions of the penitentiary that we can use the present time we within the next 45 days we hope to

get or make usable cell blocks for three four and five which will enable us to use for maximum security classification I'm not sure whether we're going to be able to think in terms of bringing some of the inmates back but we're certainly going to take a look at it it's costing us a lot of money to keep inmates out of state so we want to bring these inmates back as soon as we can recover the portions of the penitentiary that we need to do this I don't talk just a little bit about your philosophy and corrections all we've heard from you a great deal is a reaction to what's happened here in the last month or so are you the kind of guy that wants to lock the doors and throw away the keys or our education and vocational rehabilitation high priorities and in your correction of philosophy I don't believe the key to our penal

institutions is a facility that will give us an inmate that will be locked up we've got to be able to give those inmates some programs that will have meaning for them that will rehabilitate those it can be rehabilitated and those people that are in for long term sentences give them something that will have some value meaning to a life that they're going to spend within a penal institution my philosophy has been and I've I've said this repeatedly that you have to balance our security with rehabilitation and educational programs we cannot go heavy on security and forget about our rehabilitation programs do you anticipate making any administrative changes in the department in the next month or six months or a year I am certain that as a result

of our review we're going to make some changes but I plan no changes for the immediate future one of the question that's just I think needs to be asked and that is why did you decide to come to New Mexico the job that I had accepted previously looked a lot different to me after the riots I knew we had problems but after the riot I saw that I had a tremendous challenge but I accept the accepted challenge I'm home this is my home state the governor the legislators the entire people populist new Mexico has been supporting our efforts so I think we have an opportunity here to build a build a penal institution that we can all be proud of I mentioned to these gentlemen from the national council the rahsa that and newspaper article

referring to the national spotlight being on me closed the bottom line of that article was that whatever we do here in New Mexico is going to be important not only to the state of New Mexico but also to the entire nation a couple of months from now the attorney general will be deep into his investigation and will present a preliminary report on what happened and why it happened at the New Mexico state penitentiary the governor and the attorney general have appointed a special committee to advise the attorney general's investigation so that no stone is left unturned so that we may know for sure why the riot occurred at the New Mexico state penitentiary and how it might have been averted I'm Roger Bimer let's go let's go

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