Penitentiary of New Mexico Riot; Inmate Interviews with Ernie Mills

Okay, why don't you just, do you want to give your name again? Hold on. Just tell them about... Yosek? Hold on. Let me cue you. All right, so I need a cue. Now you can see me in my production. All right. Yosek? Sure. Okay. I believe the main problem in this pandemic is over crowded conditions. I filed a class 81 suit and 77 on it. I knew we were sitting on a time bomb. I knew eventually that it was going to blow up. I was trying to prevent it through mediation, but mediation hasn't seemed to accomplish nothing. The guys are just fed up with being harassed by the inmate guards. Seems that most of these guards don't have adequate facilities, adequate training. And me, as me being the spokesman for the inmates, I'd say that a new administration is indeed needed. Do you need me to tell us any questions?

From the deputy warden down. Deputy warden went to her down. Anybody else have any questions? I'm sorry, I didn't catch you. You say you do it in the administration. We sure do. So the deputy warden on that. Yeah, the administration is warden. What's wrong with this place? There's too many cheese, not enough indians. Each captain has his own rules. He asked whether you want Jerry to stay his warden or do you want any warden? Jerry Griffin seems to be pretty lenient as far as his job. But I've come to realize that he's nothing but a headstone also. From what we want is that we want an administration where they could cope with us. All the inmate really wants is mutual respect. And we'll give him respect. But the respect that we're getting isn't adequate. Good deal. You know, that's all the inmate wants.

Make sure you respect. Give me a word. Give me when you kept it. Thank you. Good luck. Can you bring up, find out just who's next. Okay, no problem. Ernie? Yes, that's this way. Okay. Okay. Wait for my cue again. This is John Roberts. Yeah. You haven't met him. I've done it. He's got a close. You all set up your cue, man? Damn, man. Yeah. If you want to bring anyone out, you can bring them around. But I want to keep talking to you, okay? That doesn't bother me. Cool. Okay, great. Okay, well, what we'd really like to find out is what's going to happen to us right now. You know, after we release all the hostages and everything, if we're going to be retaliation, that's one thing, one of our questions. They're going to hurt us. Okay. If not, there's no way we can live in these units. What's going to happen to us then? Are they going to transfer us to county jails? Are they going to know what's going to happen to us? Candela, are you talking about, like, as soon as it's over, whether it be like it wraps up and say two hours,

then you want to know exactly what the game plan is. Can I, Felix? Candela, is something you may have worked on. He's anxious to know what the game plan is. You want to come in? Come on in a second. You still got... Remember. You want to ask about the game plan, guy, okay? Keep the guys back for just a minute, okay? Can I get Felix? You want to ask about the game plan? We're just holding for a minute. Okay, Felix comes in for a second. He was answering Candela's question. We'll get it on the tape. Yeah. Candela asks Felix. He wants to know what will happen is like... What will happen immediately to make sure you don't... There's no retaliation. So, let's... Why don't you get the hostages out? People give up their weapons. Yeah. And they come out here and then we go in and assist the situation in there to see where we're going. The rest of the people.

And you have my word that nobody will be beaten up, shot at, or anything else. Okay. I wanted to ask you... There's not too many good living quarters left. Okay. What's going to happen there if you don't have enough room to put out the people? Are they going to be transferred to county jails? Are they going to be just handcuffed out here? No. No, we will find proper housing. In fact, we're... We have contacted other states to see if we can house on an emergency measure. Okay. That sounds good to you. Can you pass it on to them? But I need... Can you bring someone else up to me? And then pass on to what Felix said, okay? Okay. Hey guy, you kept your word. Good luck. Good luck. Yeah. Thanks, man. Sure. Okay. I need about a minute to set up our camera again, okay? Can you... Just let them know the reason I'm wearing the hat is because of skin cancer. Put in a plug. I got a sunburn yesterday. We'll just hold it down. These guys are cool, man.

Last night when they were starting talking to him from behind the gates. Good. And Anna's. Okay. Felix, line your needs, you'll end up with two lines. Felix...

Line your needs to talk to you right now. I thought I might as well get that out of my film. So they got it on record, man. That goes out. That's going to all the TV stations. And those guys, that's the Associated Press. That's the United Press. That's the fellow US for funding the Mexican. Do you met them? Yeah. Put John Roberts in. He had asked, he had asked, particularly, for you. That sense can't be good, are you? No further? You should owe your people coming back. Oh, man. You guys are just too worried, man. You haven't gone back up any once. No, once. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Well, put this right. We're with you. But we're just going to stay here all the time. You want to go back inside. But you guys haven't broken your work to me once. As long as they know that we don't work. We don't work for the penitentiary people. We're also in the U.S. I'm actually in the U.S. Very Mendoso. And the Huskies just... Oh, we will.

No, we will do that. No, we will. Yeah, no. My first commitment was to talk to you guys. Okay? Okay. Oh. Are you ready? Yeah. Anything. Yeah. Mike Loan, by the way. This is Mike Kobe. Well, he said to me, You mind if I wait us because I got a... No, that's wrong. I get... I was out in the sun all day last week. Good. Right. Yeah. Mike Kobe. And you haven't met you. Why don't you just shake hands for a moment. A journal bell feather from the Associated Press. Yes. John Gillis. And John Robertson, who's within the Mexican. He's a camera man who can't hear me. Thank you, thank you. You're welcome. Can I impress him? Can I impress him? I believe. Let's see. Can I impress him? Yeah. Yeah. And this is the TV thing here. They'll go out to all the TV stations. Let's get... No way, man. No way. He... Anything you say, I'm going...

I'm going to go and edit it. Okay? Now we can go, Mike. First, I made the promise that we would come in. I don't want to ask you a question. Later on, they may want to ask you if you don't want to answer in time. But you've got a statement to make about it. Yeah. What I'd like to say about this institution, that it's the administration in this institution has been here for over 20 years. And most of them, they're just a click. They call us clicks. They've got one of their own. They do anything they want, concerning cell house three. And they just got us run. Okay. Dr. Mark Orner, who is the head of the psychological unit here in Penitentiary, has threatened myself. And Mr. Stevens, they're on several occasions. We were charged with escape two months ago from the Penitentiary. And it was because of him. They have threatened our lives. They're going to continue to threaten our lives even after we leave this Penitentiary. But one of our demands now is that the five of us, the five that you've talked to, are in jeopardy right now. No matter what they say, once you people leave and they go in there,

they're going to beat us and beat us bad. You know, people may not believe that kind of shit goes on, but it does. I've seen it. I've had it done to me. I know. You know, I don't understand. You know, they think that what we've done here is wrong. This Penitentiary is 20 years behind any joint in the United States. And I think that can be proven by records. So, yeah, I think we've done something to write. Mike, thank you. If you have any questions, Mike. Okay. I appreciate it. I'm Randy Mills. Good luck, I need just one thing of that. Let me introduce you to you. He's going to set the camera. This thing is going to all the TV stations. This Bruce Campbell, Albuquerque Journal. Bill Feather with the Associated Press. John Gillis, the United Press International. John Robertson with the Santa Fe in New Mexico. And one of the fellows won the New Mexican guy here. I made a promise to him last night that I bring back the cameras and the reporters. And I don't want to stop you from saying anything.

What you say is going to them unedited. We don't work for the Penitentiary people. We're here because I took the words of the guys last night and they haven't broken it to me yet. Can I have your name first? Yeah, my name's William Jack Stevens. Yeah, and I was housed in segregation. And I was housed in segregation. About three and a half months ago for a tempted escape. And the reason for that escape was I was being threatened by inmate staff. And Dr. Mark Orner for one particular. And people was bringing me this every day telling me that Mark Orner had some kind of grievance against us. And he was not going to allow us out of this Penitentiary alive. And as of this minute, I'm doing a life's 15 year sentence with a life running wild.

And I feel as long as I'm in this Penitentiary, I'll never get out alive. Do you have anything else to say? Go ahead. I would like to talk to Mr. Rodriguez if I may. Felix. Felix, can I see you for a minute? Oh, he's talking to the other guy. Felix, can we see you for one minute? Can you come in for one minute? Sure can. Mr. Rodriguez has just told me that he would give myself Mr. Stevens. And we have talked to his word in writing that the five of us will be transferred out of this Penitentiary. Try them all. That's all right. Let's say it again. Let's get around the TV. Can you swing a camera? Can you get us? Do it again. Okay. I have a short Kobe Stevens. The Tutorans. Candelaria.

Candelaria. That they will be transferred out of state tomorrow. It's out of state. Right. To another institution. Right. That's five of us. That's five of us. Okay. You satisfied? I'll just go to that on camera because it's on the camera and it's on the paper. You agree to give that to us in writing before we let them off? Right. And the other thing is, these men, upon that, I will give them my agreement. I'll give attorney mail upon you guys giving me the hostages and he can give you the paper. I'll bring the paper into the evening. We will get the hostages out here. And the fact that... Also... Wait a minute. Also... There's none of these other dudes here in this institution. They're staying behind. We'll be hurt. No, no rest. No segregation. No, nothing. I'm going to tell you right now. You can't put people on cell block three because there's no cell block three there. We're going to be looking at it. We're looking at other facilities where the people are in here that we start getting the plates and shit. Okay. And I think one of the things you cannot expect to perform miracles, okay? Another thing. It's going to take a little bit of time. Another thing. We didn't want the hostages released until we're transferred. Tomorrow morning.

No, no. It is nothing for new people to show you what it is. No, look. You're岸 sure, you're fucking over. We're making agreement this morning. Yep, yep. Mr. Rodriguez, look here. You had a man named Harmon Ellis come back from the state penitentiary in Arizona. Right. He went to court. He got a court order that as soon as his trial was completed, he would be transferred back to Arizona. Yeah, well, that man was here for this other escape. You guys didn't fulfill your bargain. Nobody sent him that. I did not know about that court order. Yeah, I talked to Ellis. Okay. All these people, all these people back here are doing booku time. There's 90% of them are flat time sentences and they cannot go with every other day in the last week. They've had 15 people bring in the segregation on investigation. No reports without no reports.

It's come to their house and say, yeah, you're in investigation and lock you up. Some of them have been in there for four months and don't even know why they're there. You know, all of those people, they've come from court. It's a life sentence, 150 years. Excuse me a minute. We're making apples in order. Let's take one step at a time. Okay. Let's go. Because I told them one thing. I said a few things. We're going to stay here. Like I'm talking to you three. We want to get along the take. We're getting our sound. Okay. Good. Directly to South Blonde 3 without no kind of disciplinary reports during the institution. They're kept there six, nine months. Just because they have a life sentence in an hour or one. For our much time they had. There's no reason why they should be kept there. They don't give them no reasons. The numbers suddenly just later on population. I think it's probably coming to touch it. You all right? I went there. Did you want to give your name before?

Because we just talked for a minute. My name is Rudy Alass. How do you spell that Rudy? ALDAZ last name. ALDAZ. Rudy. Rudy. Are you D.Y.? Do you have anything else? Yeah. Nothing, nothing. All of us five are doing enough time. We're not going to leave this institution for the next five or ten years. You're not going to leave an institution. This institution. I am never leaving an institution for the rest of my life. I'm assuming that he talked about being transferred out of state. I'll go out of state to where a motherfucker can do time. Comfortable like a human being. And live like a human being. I'm never getting out. Could you guys hold here for a second? Can we do it? Yeah, man. Can you just make sure bring back the same five? Okay. That's cool. I need one thing. When you come back, I need about just about two minutes to set up the camera again. Okay? Hey. Cool. Thank you. You haven't broken your word. None of them have.