Location Santa Fe, New Mexico Security class Maximum Security Warden German Franco Opened 1885 | Status Operational Population 790 Phone +1 505-827-8201 | |
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Managed by New Mexico Corrections Department Address 4311 NM-14, Santa Fe, NM 87504, USA Hours Closed today SundayClosedMonday6AM–6:30PMTuesday6AM–6:30PMWednesday6AM–6:30PMThursday6AM–6:30PMFridayClosedSaturdayClosedSuggest an edit | ||
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The Penitentiary of New Mexico (PNM) is a men's maximum-security prison located in unincorporated Santa Fe County, 15 miles (24 km) south of central Santa Fe, on New Mexico State Road 14. It is operated by the New Mexico Corrections Department.
Contents
The complex consists of three separate facilities. The facilities are now referred to as Level V (opened 1985), Level VI (opened 1985) and Level II (opened 1990) for the minimum restrict facility, based upon the New Mexico adaptation of the Federal Bureau of Prisons system for inmate classification and restriction. The regular daily population is about 790 inmates, whose average age is 32.
The Level VI Supermax site contains New Mexico's Death Row. This is where Terry Clark was executed in 2001. He remains, as of 2014, the only execution in New Mexico since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.
The death penalty was repealed in New Mexico in 2009, and therefore no further executions have taken place. As of August 2016, the current governor, Susana Martinez is seeking to reinstate it.
History
Opened in 1885, the New Mexico Penitentiary had been authorized by Congress since 1853. The design of the original facility on Cerrillos Road was based on the same plans used for Sing Sing and Joliet.
The first prison industry produced bricks. Beginning in 1903, New Mexico became the first western state to employ prisoners in building highways.
On 19 July 1922, prisoners at the penitentiary rioted against overcrowding, the poor food, and the use of excessive force by the prison authorities. When the inmates refused to return to their cells, the tower guards opened fire, killing one inmate and injuring five others. In the report following the riot, the prison authorities were blamed for lack of experience, and failure to understand how to control a prison population.
The second riot was 15 June 1953. Inmates protesting the use of excessive force seized Deputy Warden Ralph Tahash and twelve guards and held them hostage. In the resulting melee, guards killed two inmates and wounded a number of others.
This second riot led to the construction in 1956 of a new facility about 8 miles south of the original prison, in open country along State Road 14, which came to be called "the main unit." The original 1885 facility was demolished shortly thereafter.
In 1980, Cell Block 4, "the main unit", was the scene of one of the most violent prison riots in the correctional history of America. Over two days 33 inmates were killed and 12 officers were held hostage by prisoners who had escaped from cell blocks in the main unit. Men were brutally butchered, dismembered, and decapitated and hung up on the cells and burned alive. This section of the prison was closed in 1998 and is now referred to as the "Old Main."
Systemic reforms after the riot and the Duran v. King consent decree, including implementation of the Bureau Classification System under Cabinet Secretary Joe Williams, led to the modern New Mexico prison system. The prison is reputedly haunted, with numerous unexplained phenomena, from prison doors opening and close of their own accord, to shadows, to ghostly voices and footsteps.