New Mexico Hall of Shame

Albuquerque Police Department
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Cornell
September 7, 2002
Two Fugitives still on the Loose. It has been more than a year since the drug trafficker Vicente Manuel Tijerina has seen the inside of an American lockup. On Friday, the former fugitive saw a federal judge in Albuquerque. Tijerina,31, was extradited this week to New Mexico after eight months in custody at a jail in Mexico City. U.S. Marshalls and Mexican federal judicial police recaptured Tijerina on Nov. 10, 2001, in Sonora state after he and two other inmates escaped from the Santa Fe County Detention Center on April 7, 2001. The escape was aided by then-guard Lawrence C. Candelaria, who is now serving a 366-day prison sentence for smuggling into the jail a cell phone, hacksaw blades, a hammer and a chisel. Candelaria worked for Houston-based Cornell Corrections Corp., which operated the jail at the time. Authorities are still looking for Luis Ramon Lopez, 42, and Rodolfo Ruiz-Godinez, 30. (Albuquerque Journal)

February 24, 2001
The city may sue the company that was transporting Byron Shane Chubbuck when he escaped to recover the $76,189 the police spent on recapturing him, Albuquerque City Councilor Tim Kline said Friday. The police spent $49,469 paying officers who would have otherwise been on duty elsewhere. It spent $20,956 on overtime, and another $5,764 for helicopter use during the search. Kline said the city deserves assurances from Cornell that it is examining its security procedures. "My bottom line is to ensure they take a look at security and do something about it, and this is the way you get their attention," he said. The Marshals Service said that the agency itself will transport prisoners in the future rather than contracting with a private firm. (Albuquerque Journal)

Bernalillo County Detention Center
Bernalillo, New Mexico
Cornell
December 26, 2005 Albuquerque Journal
Bernalillo County still doesn't have a valid contract with the private company running the Downtown jail- even though it opened 11/2 years ago. New Mexico law requires that contracts with private jail companies be approved by the state Attorney General's Office before taking effect. The office has warned Bernalillo County, in a series of letters this year and last, that it hasn't approved the contract yet and still has a few concerns. For one, state lawyers say, the contract needs to address what would happen if the county must send local inmates to the Downtown jail. Right now, that lockup handles only federal and state inmates and is operated by Houston-based Cornell Companies. County inmates are housed at a new jail on the West Mesa, where the skyrocketing population has caused overcrowded conditions. The county's intention is to create a separate agreement if it ever needs to send local inmates Downtown, but that's "not acceptable," Assistant Attorney General Zachary Shandler told the county in a letter last year. "This is the time to work out the terms of the Management Agreement," Shandler said. The state had a host of other concerns, such as making it clear in the contract that the county has "ultimate say" over the jail, not Cornell. Shandler said his last letter to the county was in February and that he hadn't received a formal response. Shandler wouldn't discuss what action the state might take if Bernalillo County never gets the contract approved. Meanwhile, the county could face legal "exposure" because of the lack of approval, he said. "The problem generally is that if something went wrong contractually with their partner or some situation occurred in the inmate population, they would not have an effective contract ... that protects the state from certain liabilities," Shandler said.

October 15, 2003
The county refused to put the jail lease out to bid. Instead, it negotiated a five-year deal after Cornell responded to a request for information. Although Gov. Bill Richardson expressed reservations about the no-bid process, Board of Finance Director Mark Valdes said the board did not have the authority to direct Bernalillo County to put the lease out for competitive bid. He cited changes made in state procurement law during the last legislative session. "The board does not have the authority to not approve the lease and direct the county to do competitive bids," Valdes said. Board members did not question the role of Cornell's hired consultants, Albuquerque attorney Edmund "Joe" Lang and former Democratic Party National Committeeman Art Trujillo. The two originally were hired to help Cornell get the lease on the Downtown jail. Lang was to be paid $2 a day per inmate and Trujillo 25 cents a day per inmate. They potentially stood to make more than $2 million off the deal combined. Cornell says those agreements are no longer in effect. The company says Lang's contract is now "dramatically different" and that Trujillo is no longer working on the project. (ABQ Journal)

October 13, 2003
A private jail operator that has been awarded a controversial no-bid contract to operate the old Bernalillo County Detention Center at one point agreed to pay two politically connected consultants big dollars to help secure the deal. Former state Sen. Edmund "Joe" Lang and former Santa Fe Mayor and Democratic Party figure Art Trujillo had the potential to receive nearly $2.5 million combined from Cornell Companies over a five-year period— an amount that would hinge on how many inmates were housed in the jail. Cornell says the agreements are no longer in effect. Lang, a Corrales Democrat and former Sandoval County commissioner, stood to earn the biggest payday. Cornell, in a memorandum of understanding dated April 15, 2002, agreed to pay Lang $2 a day per inmate for the "consulting work that you will perform in conjunction with Cornell's attempt to lease or purchase ... the Bernalillo County Jail (Downtown Jail facility)." Cornell had a similar agreement with Trujillo, a former Bernalillo County Democratic Party chairman who at the time was conducting what turned out to be a successful campaign for his party's nomination for state Land Commissioner. Trujillo, however, was only to be paid 25 cents a day per inmate— a potential payout of about $273,000 over five years. Trujillo has a history of friction with County Commission Chairman Tom Rutherford. Lang and Rutherford are longtime friends and colleagues. The memorandums to both Lang and Trujillo said payments would commence only after the "complete execution" of a valid contract between Cornell and the county. Payments would begin "after the first full quarter of a fully executed contract and be issued quarterly thereafter for the original term of the contract." Cornell estimated the capacity of the jail at 540 inmates after renovation. The county's estimate is about 600 inmates. Assuming the jail was full, that would translate into a potential fee of $1,080 to $1,200 a day for five years with a possible five-year renewal. Five years of operation with 600 inmates would have meant a payment in excess of $2.1 million to Lang. Those estimates are based on a jail operating at full capacity, 365 days a year. Paul Doucette, Cornell vice president for development and public affairs, said in a telephone interview Friday that both documents are out of date. "Neither is in effect today," he said. Doucette said Cornell's current agreement with Lang is "dramatically different" than the one outlined in the April 2002 memorandum. Doucette would not, however, discuss specifics. "We consider the details of that agreement proprietary," Doucette said. "We are still in a very competitive situation on this project, as the sending of these documents to the Journal illustrates. Someone is trying to manipulate the process." He said Lang is a "very valuable consultant who knows New Mexico very well." Doucette said, "We are no longer working with Art Trujillo on this project." Trujillo believes his original contract with Cornell is still valid but says he has been cut out of any negotiations between Cornell and the county. The contracts between Cornell and the consultants have not been discussed publicly in the talks leading up to county approval of the pact with Cornell. Cornell's contract with Bernalillo County to operate the jail still faces the hurdle of approval by the state Board of Finance, which balked at approving the pact earlier this month. Members of the Board of Finance, which is chaired by Gov. Bill Richardson, questioned how they could be sure the county was getting the best deal, since the contract never went out to bid. The board asked for more information and is scheduled to take up the contract again on Tuesday. Cornell negotiated a five-year lease with the county to renovate and house inmates at the now-vacant jail. The negotiations, including talks between Lang and then-County Manager Juan Vigil, were based on Cornell's reply to a Request for Information sent to private jail contractors. Under the contract approved on a 4-1 vote by the county commission in January, Cornell would pay the county about $1 million a year the first two years of operations with a gradual increase over the next three years. The company originally offered to pay the county $5 a day per inmate with a ceiling of $1 million a year. In addition, Cornell would spend roughly $5 million to renovate the old jail Downtown. The county sent out the request for information in 2001. It never issued a formal request for proposals that would state what the county wanted and how the proposals would be judged. Cornell's competitors and one county commissioner criticized that decision. All of the county commissioners contacted by the Journal said they were unaware of the terms of the consulting contracts. "I wouldn't know about that," Rutherford said. "I do know that he (Lang) did a lot of work on this." Commissioner Steve Gallegos said, "Wow. I've never been a lobbyist, so I don't know what they receive. I don't know if that's high. It doesn't sound right to me." Commissioner Michael Brasher, who has been critical of the process and was the sole vote against the lease for Cornell, questioned the arrangement. "I think we need to have full disclosure of situations like this. The entire deal has been very curious." Corporate spokesmen from Wackenhut Corrections Corporation and Corrections Corporation of America declined comment for this story. Commissioner Alan Armijo said he would like to see the (Cornell-Lang) agreement. "Without looking at it and knowing all the details, I don't know if it bothers me or not ...," he said. Commissioner Tim Cummins said, "Sounds like he's (Lang) a partner. Whatever arrangement they do is none of my business." Consultant agreements Doucette, Cornell's vice president for development and public affairs, confirmed that Lang currently has a contract with Cornell and that Cornell does enter into contingency agreements like the one obtained by the Journal. "Like everything else, we factored it into our costs," Doucette said. "Our proposal to lease and remodel the jail provides an outstanding value to the county." But he would not discuss specifics of the consultant agreements. Lang in a telephone interview said he wouldn't comment on his contract, also saying that it was "proprietary." Doucette confirmed that Trujillo did work for Cornell on the jail contract early in the process, although Lang said he was unaware of Trujillo's involvement in the lease. The body of the memos from Cornell to Lang and Trujillo are almost identical except for the amount to be paid. They have the same date and are signed by the same Cornell official. The memoranda state that they are good for six months and could be renewed. In a telephone interview, Trujillo said his contract is still valid, but no one the Journal interviewed in county government recalled Trujillo being involved. "I told them (Cornell) how to get this project done ... but Lang has cut me off totally," Trujillo said. Trujillo was defeated in November by Republican Patrick Lyons in the Land Commissioner race. Lang is registered as a legislative lobbyist for Cornell and said that work is separate from his work on the county jail lease. State law prohibits legislative lobbyists from working on a contingency fee like the one outlined in the memorandum of understanding. "I haven't talked to any legislators on Cornell's behalf," he said. There is no state prohibition on contingency fees for lobbying local governments on jails. Friendship is separate Lang and Rutherford acknowledge a longtime friendship. They attended high school together and served in the state Senate at the same time. They are both lobbyists and sometimes work for the same clients. Both said their friendship had nothing to do with the Downtown jail lease. Rutherford said he is also friends with the lobbyists who represent Cornell's competitors— Corrections Corporation of America and Wackenhut. Those two companies asked the commission to put out a request for proposals. There is a small group of people who do lobbying, and they all know one another. I sat on the Senate committee that approved Ed Mahr (lobbyist for Corrections Corporation of America) as Corrections secretary back in the 1970s. I served in the Senate and on the commission with Les Houston (lobbyist for Wackenhut Inc.) for years," Rutherford said. "We're all friends," Lang said of his competing lobbyists. "We (Cornell) gave the only responsive price which the county asked for in its request," Lang said. "Nobody has ever said they could beat our price." Both men said the commissioner who pushed the jail privatization was Steve Gallegos, hoping to use the money generated by the lease to fund a psychiatric unit at the $90 million Metropolitan Detention Center on the West Side. "This is simply a mechanism to get the psychiatric unit built at the new jail," Lang said. That sentiment was echoed by Rutherford and Cummins, who said the building was essentially useless sitting empty. Court and police officials have suggested using part of the facility as a Downtown holding and booking facility— an idea rejected by the county. Gallegos said he is not a proponent of privatizing jails but believes the county had to come up with some way to build a psychiatric unit at the new jail. "I pushed it as a public facility, and I don't believe in privately run jails," Gallegos said. "It was really out of frustration that I said let's try the private sector." "I want that psych unit built," Gallegos said. "I know that inmates with mental health problems are abused in jail. I've had personal experience with family members with mental health problems and I know how important this unit is." "What it really came down to was Cornell put numbers up and the others didn't," Gallegos said. "Why didn't the others? Are they serious or not? "Later, the other guys come back and say we're playing an unfair game. But I think Cornell played it straight with us." Gallegos said, "The problem in this state is that everyone's connected. Les Houston worked for Wackenhut. I know Ed Mahr with CCA very well. He's a friend. I've known Tom Rutherford for years and years. I don't know Joe Lang that well." How it all started The county put out its request for information on renovating and privatizing the Downtown jail in October 2001. At that time, commissioners expected the jail to be empty by the following summer when the new West Side jail was supposed to open. The idea was criticized by the union representing officers at the jail and seemed to die. In January 2002, Gallegos began pushing the idea of the county running the Downtown jail as a facility to hold federal inmates. Any profits would go to building a psychiatric unit at the new jail. Negotiations with the U.S. Marshals Service hit a stumbling block when federal officials said they could not guarantee a fixed number of inmates because that would violate federal policy. In April 2002, Cornell inked separate memorandums of understanding with Lang and Trujillo to act as consultants on securing a lease or purchase of the Downtown jail. Talks between the county and the Marshals Service for federal funds to renovate the old jail broke down when the county failed to meet a key deadline for filing paperwork for federal renovation funds. In the fall of 2002, the commission resurrected its discussion of a private jail operation. The county had received general letters of interest from Wackenhut and Corrections Corporation of America. Cornell was more specific. It gave the county a quote of $5 a day per inmate, with a ceiling of $1 million a year. In January 2003, County Attorney Tito Chavez told commissioners they could negotiate a lease with Cornell because of its response. He advised that the county was not required to put out a Request for Proposals— citing a specific state law that allows local governments to negotiate jail agreements based on a simple request for information. At the end of November 2002, the commission authorized Vigil to negotiate with Cornell. The decision was unanimous. Then-Commissioner Les Houston, whose term expired in December, urged the county to put out a Request for Proposals but recused himself from voting because he represented Wackenhut. "We felt there was a time crunch which in hindsight, because of the delay in opening the new jail, wasn't valid," said Cummins, who was chairman at the time. "But at the time there was some feeling of urgency." In January 2003, the commission approved a lease with Cornell for the old jail. The lease was amended in June 2003, when Cornell agreed to pay for the renovations. There have been some technical changes in the lease after it was reviewed by the Board of Finance. Board members have asked the county for figures from similar types of jail deals. "Comparisons from jail to jail are difficult," Brasher said. "That's the argument for going out to a Request for Proposals. That's how you find out what the value of that jail Downtown really is." Rutherford said, "The Board of Finance is doing their duty to review this carefully." (ABQ Journal)

June 11, 2003
Bernalillo County commissioners on Tuesday approved plans for a private company to renovate the Downtown jail and house federal inmates there. The commission voted 4-1 in favor of revising its lease agreement with Houston-based Cornell Companies Inc. The earlier agreement had called for the federal government to pay for renovations. Under the new proposal, Cornell would pay for the renovations, which are expected to cost $5 million. The proposal still must go before the state Board of Finance. The approval came despite objections by Corrections Corporation of America, which said the county should allow other companies to compete for the jail. "Why not open it up and get the best deal you can?" asked Frank C. Salazar, an attorney for CCA. (ABQ Journal)

June 11, 2003
When Bernalillo County signed a contract with Cornell Cos. in January to lease the City-County Jail building, it was riding on the hope the federal government would come up with a big chunk of the nearly $4 million needed to renovate the lockup. That hope was a dim one, said the head of the U.S. Marshal's Service in Albuquerque. The county was counting on getting a Marshal's Service grant to repair the Downtown jail and meet a major condition of its contract with Cornell, a private corrections company, county Public Safety Director John Dantis said Thursday. However, the county missed its chance to receive a $3 million grant when the money was made available last year, said Gordon Eden, U.S. marshal for New Mexico. "There is no extra money now," he said. "It could be several years until the Marshal's Service will be able to provide them with money for renovations." Each year the Marshal's Service allocates grants to government agencies to upgrade jails to meet the agency's standards. Cornell would be contracting with government agencies to house federal prisoners in the jail. The grant appropriation has been steeply declining over the past three years, Eden said. The amount available nationwide was $35 million in fiscal year 2001, $20 million in 2002 and $5 million in 2003, he said. Now, the county and Cornell are in negotiations to figure out who will pay for the jail repairs. A Cornell spokesman said the Houston company is willing to pay for the renovation but declined to comment on what it expects in return. In June 2002, the county was made aware it would not receive the $3 million Marshal's Service grant because it had missed a May deadline to turn in paperwork, Eden said. Dantis said the county had asked for an extension before the deadline in order for the County Commission to approve grant changes made by the Marshal's Service, but it was denied. "When the Marshal's Service deemed the county unresponsive, they allocated that money to other government agencies who needed the money," Eden said. The county contract with Cornell in January states the county would "use its best efforts" to secure a Marshal's Service grant. "How can you obligate federal funds you don't have?" Eden said Thursday in reference to the contract. County officials said at that time they were planning to apply for the Marshal's Service grant again. In April, the county asked the Marshal's Service for funding, but it is not depending on that money, Dantis said. "We're looking at a number of options to fund the renovations," he said.
Under the contract, the county is responsible for electrical, plumbing, security and roof repairs and several other categories of renovations to the building. The county has not looked into paying for the repairs using its own money, Dantis said, and referred inquiries to county financial officials. County Manager Juan Vigil was out of town Thursday, a spokeswoman for the county said, and could not be reached for comment. Under the terms of the contract, Cornell would pay $888,888 in rent during the first two years of the lease, with rent increasing to $1.2 million in the third year. The county planned to use the revenue from the Cornell lease to add a mental health facility to the new Metropolitan Detention Center, a 2,100-bed facility on the West Side that is now in the process of being filled with inmates from the county's three jails. Repairs to the Downtown jail cannot begin until the county moves all its inmates to the new lockup. The $86 million building became ready for occupancy two weeks ago, a year behind schedule. Cornell spokesman David Monroe said his company needs to wait until the old jail is vacant and the renovations are complete before it can house its inmates. The company doesn't have a scheduled move-in date for inmates, he said. "The county has taken a bit longer than we anticipated," Monroe said. "We want to do it as soon as possible but with the appropriate parameters." Cornell already has signed contracts with government agencies to house inmates in the Albuquerque jail, Monroe said. He declined to give any details on those contracts. Cornell's system includes about 70 detention facilities nationwide. County Commissioner Michael Brasher said the county might have to solicit companies that want to use the Downtown jail and could get it up and running. "If Cornell can't come up with the money," he said, "Maybe they (county officials) can find someone who can pay for the renovations." (Albuquerque Journal)

January 15, 2003
Bernalillo County commissioners approved a proposal to rent the Downtown jail to a private corrections company Tuesday — despite a potential snag over funding for renovations. Both the county and Houston-based Cornell Companies Inc. can terminate the lease agreement if funding for the jail renovations doesn't come through. As part of the proposal, federal inmates could end up at the Downtown jail. Commissioners directed county officials to try to work out agreements with the U.S. Marshals Service. Commission Chairman Tom Rutherford said the lease is important because it will put the Downtown jail to "beneficial use" after inmates there are moved to the new Metropolitan Detention Center. The moving date is uncertain. But Gorden Eden, U.S. marshal for the district of New Mexico, told the commission that federal money for the jail renovations isn't available now. He said he would work with the county to get funding but couldn't promise the money for renovations. (ABQ Journal)

January 14, 2003
Two former city councilors set to join the County Commission today will have a chance to make a historic decision — whether to rent the Downtown jail to a private corrections company. The proposed lease agreement would make the jail — for the first time — a privately run detention center. As part of the proposal, the county would try to work out an agreement with the U.S. Marshals Service to house federal inmates there. There are no plans to house city and county inmates there. The Downtown jail would be vacant after local inmates are moved to a new lockup on the West Mesa. Bernalillo County didn't seek formal bids from companies interested in the project. Instead, officials began negotiating with Cornell after issuing a request-for-information. (ABQ Journal)

November 27, 2002
Bernalillo County commissioners on Tuesday authorized further negotiations with a private company interested in running the Downtown jail as a holding center for federal inmates. The commission's 4-0 vote allows County Manager Juan Vigil to continue negotiating a lease agreement with Cornell Companies Inc. The county also will try to work out an agreement with the U.S. Marshals Service. Anthony Marquez, president of the jail employees' union, spoke against bringing in a private company. The country would have more oversight if it hired its own employees to run the Downtown jail, he said. Private companies "are there to make a buck," Marquez said. (ABQ journal)

October 9, 2001
Bernalillo County commissioners today are scheduled to consider taking the first step toward transforming the Downtown jail into a holding center for federal inmates. The proposal, sponsored by Commission Chairman Steve Gallegos, would authorize the county to submit an application to the U.S. Marshals Service to launch the program and remodel the jail to meet federal standards. Commissioner Les Houston said he is "philosophically opposed" to having Bernalillo County run a federal holding center. The county soon will be busy enough operating the 2,100-bed Metropolitan Detention Center under construction on the West Side, he said. Houston suggests the county either lease the old jail or sell it. "If we are going to operate a jail for profit ... then it should be operated by professionals, such as one of the national private operators," Houston said. But Gallegos, who opposes having a private company run the holding center, said Houston should excuse himself from discussion of the application. Houston is a registered lobbyist for Wackenhut Corrections Corporation. (Albuquerque Journal)

Camp Sierra Blanca
Ruidoso, New Mexico
CiviGenics (formerly run by AMI)
February 15, 2006 Albuquerque Journal
Five teenage boys who walked away from a juvenile jail Monday were taken into custody Tuesday morning, but questions remain about why the facility near Ruidoso has had two breakouts in two months. The teens, ranging in age from 17 to 19, were at Camp Sierra Blanca as part of their paroles and probations. They were picked up by State Police and Lincoln County Sheriff's officers about nine miles from the camp on Highway 380, near Capitan. "We're very concerned," said Deborah Martinez, spokeswoman for the Children, Youth and Families Department, which oversees the camp. "We want to understand what is going on that's causing these boys to walk away, and prevent it from happening again," she said. A spokesman for CiviGenics, the Boston company that has run the fenceless, rural facility since June, said jail security depends on the staff's vigilance and their ability to maintain relationships with the inmates. "The opportunity to run is so great," said George Vose, vice president of CiviGenics.

August 11, 2005 KVIA
The state Children, Youth and Families Department has paid 212-thousand-500 dollars to settle a dispute with a company that had run Camp Sierra Blanca. The Albuquerque Journal reports today that the money has been paid to Florida-based Associated Marine Institutes. In exchange for the payment, A-M-I has agreed to withdraw a protest it filed after it lost the contract to operate Camp Sierra Blanca. The Children, Youth and Families Department initially had refused to reveal the amount of the payment. The state earlier this summer transferred the operation of Camp Sierra Blanca to a for-profit Boston company, CiviGenics. A-M-I lost the contract to run the juvenile detention facility because of a technical error on its bid.

May 24, 2005 Albuquerque Journal
Officials from Associated Marine Institutes, the Florida organization that operates a juvenile detention camp near Ruidoso, say they'll fight the state's decision to turn the center over to a new contractor. Last Friday, an attorney for AMI presented the Children, Youth and Families Department with a notice of protest over the bidding process that began in April. AMI has run Camp Sierra Blanca since its inception in 1997. The rural, farm-like camp has been praised by politicians, judges and children's advocates for its success in rehabilitating teenage boys. Officials from the Children, Youth and Families Department say they have entered into budget negotiations with CiviGenics of Boston, the only other company that made a bid to run the camp. The protest alleges that AMI's contract proposal was disqualified because budget information was put in an appendix of the proposal instead of in the body of the document— something AMI officials say they were told was acceptable. The protest contends that CYFD restricted AMI's oral presentation during the final stage of the procurement process. CYFD also failed to select a proposal evaluation committee that met procurement standards, according to the document.

May 13, 2005 Albuquerque Journal
Supporters of Camp Sierra Blanca, a juvenile detention center near Ruidoso, are questioning the state's decision to disqualify a contract bid from its operator on what they consider to be a technicality. U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M.; state Sen. Mary Kay Papen, D-Las Cruces; and U.S. District Judge William "Chip" Johnson say the state's decision could be a result of the conflict that arose last summer when the Children, Youth and Families Department tried to close the facility. Some Lincoln County residents have established an "advocacy support fund" to save Camp Sierra Blanca and its current contractors, American Marine Institute, said Harvey Twite of radio station KEDU. The station is spearheading the effort. Under AMI's management, Camp Sierra Blanca has reported a 90 percent success rate in rehabilitating delinquent boys. AMI, a nonprofit company based in Florida, has managed the camp since its opening in 1997. A letter sent from CYFD to AMI officials on May 6 said the disqualification was because of AMI's failure to provide required information. Camp officials claim data from two columns was put in an appendix, which they contend CYFD approved. CYFD is currently negotiating with CiviGenics to run the camp. CiviGenics, a for-profit correctional company from Boston, was the only other firm to submit a bid.

May 11, 2005 Albuquerque Journal
After a long fight to keep a juvenile detention facility near Ruidoso open, the organization that has run the center has been informed it is out of a job. Officials from Associated Marine Institutes, Inc., which has managed Camp Sierra Blanca since its inception in 1997, say state officials didn't play fair when they awarded a new contract to CiviGenics, a for-profit correctional company from Boston. AMI officials said they are considering challenging the decision. The state's current contract with AMI, a nonprofit company based in Florida, expires June 30. In a news release Monday, CYFD said it was entering into contract negotiations with CiviGenics, the only other organization to submit a proposal. CiviGenics operates adult prisons in 14 states and juvenile facilities in four. "The process has saddened me," said state District Judge Karen Parsons, a Camp Sierra Blanca board member. "If we were being dealt with in good faith, they should have told us there was a technical problem (with the proposal). But the outcome was predictable in light of the way (CYFD) Secretary (Mary-Dale) Bolson has treated AMI." Tensions began building last summer when CYFD announced the camp would close in an effort to incarcerate fewer juveniles and rehabilitate them in their communities. An outcry from the residents of Lincoln County and supporters of the juvenile justice system prompted Gov. Bill Richardson to halt the closure. Supporters pointed to a 90 percent success rate and heavy community support as reasons to keep the low-security facility open.

Camino Nuevo Women's Prison
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Corrections Corporation of America
October 12, 2007 The Review
A former Alliance man who is accused of sexually assaulting inmates at the women's prison that employed him may be facing life in prison. Bond was set at $500,000, cash only, by Bernalillo County Judge Sandra Engle for Anthony Shay Townes, 33, of Albuquerque, N.M. Townes, a member of Alliance High School's 1993 graduating class and a football standout for the Aviators during his senior year, is charged with four counts of criminal sexual penetration, a second degree felony; four counts of sexual contact, a fourth-degree felony; and four counts of kidnapping. According to Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department Detective Lorraine Montoya, Townes faces up to 33 years in prison (or life) on each second-degree felony charge. According to the affidavit submitted by investigators, Townes is accused of raping and sexually assaulting four female inmates at the Camino Nuevo Correctional Center, a private minimum security prison where he was employed between February and August. Montoya said investigators are still awaiting tests on DNA evidence that would link Townes to the attacks in this ongoing investigation. Victims testified that Townes snuck inmates out of their pods at night and out of view of security cameras to avoid detection by his supervisors.

October 11, 2007 Albuquerque Journal
Before Anthony Townes started working at Nuevo Camino in July 2006, he went through a school offered by the Corrections Corporation of America, according to the company's Web site. He was also trained on where all of the cameras were positioned. Three CCA prisons are accredited by the American Correctional Association. Camino Nuevo had yet to receive its accreditation. The prison is supposed to go through an ACA audit next month. ACA officials told the Journal on Wednesday that there are no standards regulating where cameras should be placed and how much of a prison should be monitored. CCA's spokesman Steve Owen said his company would wait to review camera placement after the sheriff's office finished its investigation. But "I don't think there is a correctional facility in the country that has every area of a prison covered by a camera," he said. "Cameras are one of many things you utilize to maintain safety and security in a facility."

October 10, 2007 Albuquerque Tribune
A male prison guard is in jail on charges he raped four female inmates in the privately run Camino Nuevo women's prison in Albuquerque. Corrections Officer Anthony Shay Townes, 33, was arrested Tuesday by Bernalillo County sheriff's investigators. According to a criminal complaint: A teacher working in the women's prison in early August overheard a conversation between inmates about one of them having DNA evidence to prove some sort of relationship. With more digging, the teacher and her supervisors learned the inmate was discussing having had a sexual encounter with a corrections officer. One of the inmates told the supervisor that the corrections officer was Townes. Townes was immediately placed in a position without inmate contact, then placed on leave a day later. He is currently on unpaid leave, prison officials said. Townes is at the Metropolitan Detention Center with bail set at $500,000 cash-only. Sheriff's deputies were called to the prison on 4050 Edith Blvd. N.E., the former maximum security juvenile facility, on Aug. 14 to start an investigation into the allegations. On Aug. 18, they were called back again, this time because another inmate told supervisors that Townes had raped her earlier that week. Two more inmates also told investigators Townes had attacked them. Their similar reports to detectives include being taken to an area in the facility out of view of cameras and being assaulted by Townes. One inmate said she was attacked several times beginning in February. Another inmate reported being taken out of her cell at 2:30 a.m., an unusual time to leave her cell but ". . . when a C.O. tells you to do something, you just do it," she told detectives, according to the complaint. That woman told detectives she saw Townes sneaking other women out of their cells at night. Prison spokesman Steve Owen said Townes was hired in October 2006, shortly after the prison opened. Owen said that as the first of the allegations surfaced against Townes, he was immediately placed on leave and authorities were immediately notified.

Cibola County Correctional Center
Cibola, New Mexico
CCA
September 19, 2007 AP
The state Court of Appeals has ruled that a private prison company is not entitled to a refund of taxes for operating prisons that house inmates for the state and federal governments. Corrections Corporation of America had sought a refund of state gross receipts taxes, claiming it was allowed a deduction for the leasing of its prisons under agreements with the Department of Corrections and the federal Bureau of Prisons. The Court of Appeals concluded Tuesday there was no lease of real property. "The fact that CCA had the right to fill up any extra space with inmates from other jurisdictions coupled with the governmental entities' paying based on the number of inmates housed, makes these agreements look more like those between 'hotels, motels, rooming houses, and other facilities' and 'lodgers or occupants' than leases for real property," the court said in an opinion written by Judge Michael Bustamante. The company built and owns prisons used by the state and other governments: the New Mexico Women's Correctional Facility in Grants, the Cibola County Correctional Center near Milan and the Torrance County Detention Facility at Estancia. In 2002, the company filed for a refund of nearly $2.5 million for taxes from January 1999 to October 2002. A state district court in Santa Fe ruled against the company in 2005.

September 18, 2007 AP
The state Court of Appeals has ruled that a private prison company isn't entitled to a refund of taxes for operating prisons that house inmates for the state and federal governments. Corrections Corporation of America had sought a refund of state gross receipts taxes. The company claimed a deduction for the leasing of its prisons under agreements with the Department of Corrections and the federal Bureau of Prisons. The court ruled today that there was no lease of real property. In 2002, the company filed for a refund of nearly $2.5 million for taxes from January 1999 to October 2002. In its appeal, the company dropped some claims but didn't specify the amount of refund it was seeking. CCA operates a prison at Grants that houses state female inmates. It also has a prison in Torrance County and contracts with the Bureau of Prisons to hold federal inmates near Milan in Cibola County.

August 30, 2007 Cibola Beacon
The Beacon recently received several calls from residents concerned about the safety of the community because of the staff shortage in the areas prisons. All three prisons, Western New Mexico Correctional Facility in Grants, Cibola County Corrections Center (AKA Four C's) in Milan and the New Mexico Women's Correctional Facility, also in Grants, are currently in need of correctional officers. Four C's in Milan is the most needful of officers. Currently, it is 38 officers short. The facility has a total of 159 CO positions, therefore it is now understaffed by 24 percent. “First, there is absolutely no risk to be concerned about,” Warden Walt Wells said on Wednesday. “We continually analyze the staff to be sure we have the adequate staff to protect our inmates, employees and the community. We'll never let it fall to the level to where there is a risk.” According to Warden Allan Cooper at the Grants women's facility, Americans Corrections Association says the ratio of inmate to corrections officer should be about 580 inmates to 76 staff, about 65 of the latter being correctional officers. “The public will never be at risk,” said Cooper. Cooper's Administrative Assistant, Lisa Riley, said they have to fill all the posts no matter what. “If it costs us lots of overtime, that doesn't matter,” Riley said. “We have our requirements that have to met by the state.”

July 4, 2006 Cibola Beacon
Cibola County Undersheriff Johnny Valdez announced Friday that marijuana was recently found at two local prisons. CCSO Deputy Mike Oelcher and Deputy Dog Ashe found a small amount of marijuana in an inmate’s bunk at the Cibola County Detention Center and behind a pay phone typically used by inmates in the common area of a pod last Tuesday. Burnt residue weighing .2 grams found in an inmate’s bunk will not result in charges, he explained. Even the district attorney did not want to press charges even though bringing drugs into a prison, regardless of amount is a third-degree felony, according to CCSO officials. No one will be charged for the marijuana found behind the pay phone either. “It’s a common area and they can’t charge any one with it,” said Undersheriff Valdez. CCSO arrested Corrections Corporation of American Women’s Correctional Facility inmate Stephanie de Santiago, 22, of Roswell, for possession of marijuana at the facility a week ago Monday. The drug was found during a routine search of the inmate after she spent time with a visitor. The marijuana tested positive with a test kit at the prison, which allows probable cause for the arrest, said CCSO spokesman Lt. Harry Hall. Lt. Hall said the street value for the marijuana is not known at this time, but the district attorney’s office will prosecute Santiago and possible charges are pending against the visitor who brought the drug into the facility.

February 29, 2004
Some families of inmates housed in the Cibola County Detention Center are upset at the fees being charged to prisoners. There is a $10 booking fee, a $5 release fee and various fees for medical costs. The Grants Police Department is upset about these fees as well, when they apply to city prisoners being booked at the county jail. "We're being charged a daily rate of $57 per inmate housed by the county and yet they still charge the inmates a fee as well," said Chief Marty Vigil. Cibola County Detention Center Administrator, John Gould sees it as part of doing business. "We figure it costs about $70-$75 a day per prisoner. And it's not like we charge them $15 a day. It's a one time administrative cost whether they're in jail for one day or 300 days." When asked if the daily cost of housing prisoners was $70, then why was the City only charged $57, Gould replied that it was to "give the City a break." Gould said, "why should citizens who haven't committed any crimes pay for those who commit them? These people think nothing of peddling drugs near our children's schools. They are not bothered by burglarizing an honest person's home and stealing their hard earned possessions. But, when the county chooses to establish a fee for being booked in the detention center, these people call out to the honest and hardworking citizens of Cibola County, their victims, because they do not think they should be made to pay for a small portion of their incarceration. They feel that the community they victimized owes them." Last fall, the commission voted to approve charging inmates these fees. (Cibola Beacon)

February 12, 2003
Cibola County residents and doctors are opposing the County Commission 's efforts to sell the county hospital. Acting County Manager David Ulibarri said Tuesday the possible sale of the hospital and construction of a county jail are not linked. He said gross receipts taxes have been dedicated to pay off the jail. The county currently contracts with a private company, Corrections Corporation of America , for prisoner space, but wants to build its own jail to slice the cost, Ulibarri said. The county built the current CCA-run jail about 1994, intending to house not only the 40 inmates the county averaged then, but also to house state prisoners for a fee. However, the Johnson administration later removed state prisoners from Cibola County . CCA then came in with an offer for the jail, which it expanded to house federal prisoners, Ulibarri said. In the years since, he said, the cost of housing county prisoners with CCA has risen along with the average number of county inmates - now about 80 a month. Inmate care now runs about $1.3 million a year, Ulibarri said. The county wants to build a jail because "we can find ways to cut our own costs, we can control our own destiny," he said. (AP)

July 5, 2002
A teacher at Cibola County Corrections Center has been charged with criminal sexual penetration for allegedly having sex with an inmate in a prison office. Ortega, who taught federal inmates at the privately run center was having sex with an inmate May 20 when the prison's chief of security walked in on the couple, court documents said. The prison houses foreign nationals from Mexico and south America who entered the country illegally and committed nonviolent crimes. The prison is operated by the Corrections Corporation of America. (The Associated Press)

December 14, 2001
A government watchdog group is satisfied with an agreement by judges in Cibola County to ensure future court hearings in the county are open to the public. Robert Johnson, executive director of the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government, wrote state District Judge Louis McDonald after the public was kept out of a hearing in the Cibola County Corrections Center in August. McDonald said it was never a matter of not wanting the public to attend the hearing, but rather an issue with the location of the hearing in the private prison. (AP)

August 3, 2001
An Albuquerque man charged with murder after being accused of running down a state police officer had initial court appearance Thursday out of public view behind the gates of a private prison. Cibola County Magistrate Jackie Fisher held the initial appearance before noon for Zacharia Craig, 19, at the Cibola County Corrections Center, where such proceedings have been held over the past year because of a crowded courtroom in Grants, six miles away. The appearances for Craig, his brother Aron Craig and other prisoners Thursday were closed. The prison says it requires 24 hours' notice to screen visitors for security reasons. News media who sought access learned about the hearing Thursday morning. The procedure was questioned by Albuquerque attorney Marty Esquivel, who handles open records and open meetings issues. "Regardless of where the courtroom activity takes place, there is traditionally a right of access to this type of criminal proceeding and it must be observed," he said. "Preventing access to judicial proceedings in jail raises a red flag for First Amendment concerns as well as issues regarding the defendant's right to a fair trial," Esquivel said. The magistrate court and the correctional center entered into an agreement about a year ago to hold initial appearances in the prison. Magistrate Eliseo Alcon of Grants said the pact came about because he became worried about security at his courtroom. Alcon said that if people want access to a particular hearing, they must notify the jail so a different place can be set up for that appearance. First appearance are the only proceedings held at the prison, Alcon and Don Russell, executive assistant to the warden, said. Arraignments - in which defendants enter pleas - are held in Grants, generally in district court for felonies. (AP)

April 25, 2001
The Cibola County Corrections Center in Milan remained under lockdown Tuesday as prison officials tried to determine the cause of an inmate protest that ended the night before with tear gas. Preliminary interviews with inmates at the privately run prison suggested they protested over food service or the price and availability of items at the prison commissary, said Don Russell, executive assistant tot he warden. Of the prisoner's 818 inmates, 766 are federal prisoners and the rest are in the custody of Cibola County, Russell said. The federal inmates all are illegal immigrants who have been convicted in the United States and are subject to deportation after they serve their prison terms, he said. Inmates at the same prison staged another nonviolent protest in December over food portions, menus and the price and selection of items at the commissary, Russell said. Inmates at the low-level security prison in Milan receive a diet containing 3,200 calories a day, Russell said. ( Journal Capitol Bureau)

April 24, 2001
An inmate protest at a privately-operated prison was a result of concern about food and, for some prisoners, taxes, authorities said. The protest, in which more than 600 inmates refused to leave the exercise yard and go inside the Cibola County Correctional Facility, lasted about 12 hours Monday. Inmates were unhappy with food served, and with having to pay gross-receipts taxes on items purchased in the prison's commissary, state police Capt. Glenn Thomas said. The jail, operated by Tennessee-based Corrections Corporation of America, houses mostly federal prisoners from out of state. (Koat/Daily News)

April 24, 2001
Prison officers interviewed inmates Tuesday a day after lobbing tear gas at them to end a 655-inmate protest in the institution's recreation yard, apparently over prison food. "Over the next few days, we will conduct an in-depth incident debriefing and follow up to determine the cause and prevent future incidents from occurring," said Steve Owen, director of marketing for Corrections Corporation of America, which owns and operates the Cibola County Correctional Center. Inmates spent 12 hours milling around the recreation yard after refusing to go to education classes or work assignments. The prison on Tuesday remained under lockdown, meaning prisoners are confined to their cells. The inmates, housed in Cibola County under a contract with the Federal Bureau of Prisons, are criminal aliens -- people who are not U.S. citizens who have been convicted of felonies in federal courts across the nation and who are subject to deportation proceeding once their sentences end, Owen said. A few inmates in the yard carried signs protesting racism. However, Don Russell, a spokesperson for the prison, said Monday the protest centered on complaints about prison food and the prison commissary. He refused to go into detail. Owen said Tuesday he could not confirm what the protest was about. (AP)

April 24, 2001
The standoff is finally over -- several hours after inmates refused to leave the recreation grounds at a private prison near Grants in New Mexico Monday night. Authorities finally got the situation under control around 9:30 P.M. local time after they were forced to throw tear gas into the recreation yard of the Cibola County Correctional Center Monday night in an effort to get the inmates back into the prison. Over 600 inmates had been in the yard since 8:00 A.M. Monday morning. (KOAT/Albuquerque)

April 24, 2001
Authorities fired tear gas Monday night to break up a daylong protest by about 700 inmates at a private prison. The prisoners were to be handcuffed, checked for weapons and returned to their cells, State Police Capt. Glenn Thomas said. That was expected to take several hours. "All day long, they were not complying with anything," Thomas said of the inmates at the Cibola County Correctional Center. "We finally had to do something." The inmates refused to leave the recreation yard about 8 a.m. to go to classes or work assignments, Steve Owen, director of marketing for Nashville, Tenn.-based Corrections Corporation of America, said in a statement. (AP)

CiviGenics Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitative Center
Fort Stanton, New Mexico
CiviGenics
August 26, 2004
Darcy Holmes said she didn’t mind being tested for drug use during a surprise facility-wide search at the CiviGenics Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitative Center at Fort Stanton Tuesday. But she was infuriated that she and other staff were herded into a circle and kept at gunpoint for hours with offenders on probation and parole during the search. “I feel they put our lives at risk,” said Holmes, a semi-retiree who worked the past five months for the Massachusetts-based company that is under contract with the state Corrections Department. “Someone could have taken a hostage or if a riot broke out, shooting could have started. I think they violated our safety. We were surrounded by officers from Carlsbad and Roswell with semi-automatic weapons and they held guns on us for three hours.” Tia Bland, public information officer for the corrections department, said Wednesday that, “We believe the whole operation was handled professionally. Staff and offenders were rounded up, but weapons were not pointed at anyone. However, we needed to ensure they remained in one place while the whole facility was searched.” The department received information about possible drug use by staff or offenders and decided a facility-wide search was needed, Bland said. “We were pretty pleased not to find a whole lot,” she said. “They found a few minor drug paraphernalia and mushrooms that we are having tested.” This isn’t the only incident that she says points to a disregard for staff safety, Homes said. “Our radios don’t work and when a duty officer is doing a head count, (he or she) has no way to communicate.” Kevin Beckworth, the regional manager for CiviGenics based in Colorado, said the fort has three times the number of radios required and there is no reason they shouldn’t be an adequate number charged and ready to use at any time. Holmes already had decided to quit her job and today is her last day at the fort. David Lucero, another employee who has given notice, said he arrived about 4 p.m. and saw police cars and officers carrying M-16s. He said the first man handcuffed is Cuban and doesn’t understand English well. “I don’t think they made it clear they weren’t supposed to stand,” he said. “They handcuffed him for at least two to three hours. If he had gotten mad and something started, we couldn’t contain them. We were in there and if rounds were fired, we were in the middle.” But Lucero said his big gripe is that after the inmates were upset by the search, he and a female employee were left to watch them overnight. That’s about 41 offenders to one guard, he said. The staff is “run ragged,” he said and more employees are needed. “Over the last six months, I made more than $4,000 in overtime because they can’t get enough people to work or to hire, or they don’t last. “We’re working 12 to 16 hour shifts and we’re tired. No one get raises because we’ve burned up all the overtime because the program director didn’t hire anybody for three or four months in a row.” The ratio of employees to offenders also is too small on trips into town, he contended. Beckworth said two-person staffing is normal for the night shift. “The director at any time has the authority to bring on more people if the situation requires it,” he said, noting that several employees live on-grounds for any quick emergency response. Lucero also criticized the prison-like atmosphere at the center. “This is a rehab center, not a prison, but it’s run like a prison,” he said. “We’re in it for the guys to get rehab.” He said he doesn’t think that’s the same goal at the corporate level. “When I have voiced my opinion in past, they won’t listen.” Lucero said he’s worried violence may erupt at the fort someday, damaging property and possibly resulting in injury to people. According to company information, CiviGenics, the second largest privately-held corrections operator and the largest provider of correctional treatment programs in the United States, was incorporated in 1995 and operates in 14 states with a staff of more than 1,200. The company took over from The Amity Foundation about a year ago. (Ruidoso News)

Clayton City
Clayton, New Mexico
GEO Group
September 26, 2006 Yahoo.com
The GEO Group, Inc. (NYSE: GEO - News; "GEO") announced today that GEO, the New Mexico Corrections Department ("NMCD"), and the Town of Clayton, New Mexico (the "Town") have signed agreements for the construction and operation of the 625-bed Northeast New Mexico Detention Facility (the "Facility") to be located in Clayton, New Mexico. The Facility will house medium security offenders for the State of New Mexico under an Intergovernmental Agreement signed by the Town and NMCD. GEO will design and build the 625-bed Facility, which will be financed through the sale of project revenue bonds sponsored by the Town and underwritten by Citigroup. Upon its expected completion in the first quarter of 2008, GEO will assume management of the Facility under its contract with the Town for an initial term of five years with five one-year renewal option periods. Once the Facility is completed, GEO's operating contract is expected to generate approximately $11.0 million in annual operating revenues.

July 9, 2005 Albuquerque Journal
SANTA FE— The city of Clayton's proposal to build a privately run prison with room for 600 medium-security inmates is running into legal questions from state lawmakers. Legislators want to know whether the city's plan requires the Legislature's approval and whether it should be subjected to terms of the state's Procurement Code. The prison would provide an economic boost for Clayton in the form of roughly 200 corrections jobs. It would help the state, which Clayton hopes would lease room in the lock-up, with much-needed new prison space. But three lawmakers this week asked Attorney General Patricia Madrid for a legal opinion on the plan. The request for the opinion came from the leaders of the Legislative Finance Committee and the Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee. It was signed by Rep. Luciano "Lucky" Varela, a Santa Fe Democrat and LFC chairman, and the co-chairmen of the corrections committee— Sen. Cisco McSorley, D-Albuquerque, and Rep. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces. Varela acknowledged the state's need for more prison beds and said he was sympathetic with the aim of stimulating the northeastern New Mexico economy. But Varela said legislators have several legal questions about the plan. "We're looking at the entire issue of whether or not it is legal for them to build," Varela said.

Gallup Detoxification Center
Gallup, New Mexico
Na'Nizhoozhi Center Inc.
December 8, 2003
A county commissioner hopes the new Gallup-McKinley County Adult Detention Center will focus more on helping more inmates change their lives rather than just making money off their incarceration. Meanwhile, upper management of the private prison company, Management Training Center, who will soon be leaving Gallup for good, expressed their thoughts on working in Gallup and gave advice to the county jail staff. Jail administration went solely to the city and county at 5 p.m. Monday. McKinley County Commissioner Billy Moore, who is a member of the city/county Jail Authority Board, said the city and county government will make errors in the beginning in a trial- and-error system until they fully learn what they're doing. That's to be expected, Moore said. "We're going in with a new attitude and a fresh look. We hope we can do something positive for the jail," Moore said. Moore has no experience at running a jail, but he said he thinks the county has been missing out on the profit MTC obviously made. "They're making a profit, or they wouldn't be there," he said of the private company. Moore doesn't believe the private prison company's money came as much from out-of-state inmates because they were only a small percentage of the jail's overall population. But he said the board might have to look into taking on out-of-state prisoners if they start losing money. He doubts that will happen. "They have incentives to keep people in jail," Moore said of private companies like Management Training Center. "We have incentives to get them out and get them treatment. Especially in the cases of DWIs." (Gallup Independent)

April 3, 2002
A lawyer is suing Gallup's detoxification center, alleging it is illegally detaining people against their will and violating state laws. The lawsuit, filed by William Stripp of Ramah on behalf of Lewison Watchman, also contends the Gallup Police Department and the McKinley County Sheriff's Department put people in Na'Nizhoozhi Center Inc., known as NCI, when they should not be there. Stripp, in his filing Monday in state District Court, asked that the lawsuit be considered a class action. If approved, class action status would let those put in the center over the past few years become parties to the lawsuit and possibly get compensation if it is successful. The lawsuit wants anyone who was illegally detained to be compensated at a rate of $5,000 a day. NCI has said 18,000 individuals are picked up and placed in the center each year. Stripp said the rate was derived from the settlement of a lawsuit Watchman filed against the city last year after being placed in NCI for four days against his will. He settled the lawsuit for $20,000. "The police should be enforcing the laws against false imprisonment," Stripp said. NCI officials said they could not comment because the lawsuit is pending. The lawsuit contends NCI does not have proper certification from the state to operate as a health center and that the city and county are violating the law by allowing the center to hold people there against their will. Stripp said he plans to seek an injunction prohibiting police from taking people to the center until NCI proves to the court that it has the proper licenses and certifications. Gallup Police Chief Daniel Kneale said he visited the center last week to check its certification and found it had the proper certification to detain people who had alcohol or drug problems. The lawsuit also alleges the center habitually puts more people in a room than allowed by state law, that staff members at times threatened people placed there or "touched or applied force to plaintiffs in a rude, insolent or angry manner," and that people were put together in locked rooms with no privacy. The lawsuit also contends police officers and sheriff's deputies turned over people to NCI without adequately investigating whether the center was authorized to hold people as a licensed "health care facility." Some of those picked up don't meet the requirement of having their mental or physical functioning substantially impaired as a result of alcohol, the lawsuit alleges. (Albuquerque Journal)

Guadalupe County Correctional Facility
Santa Rosa, New Mexico
GEO Group (formerly known as Wackenhut Corrections)
June 29, 2005 The Santa Fe New Mexican
ALBUQUERQUE -- Lawyers for three prison inmates facing the death penalty in the 1999 slaying of a New Mexico correctional officer say the state hasn't provided adequate money for the defense. The state's chief public defender said this week that the state already is spending close to $2 million on defending the inmates, which he said is more than any other criminal case in state history. However, six private lawyers retained by the state to represent Reis Lopez, David Sanchez and Robert Young have asked a judge to let them drop out of the case. If the judge won't agree, they want the state to pay more money for the defense or drop the death-penalty request. The charges stem from the beating and killing of Officer Ralph Garcia during a 1999 inmate uprising at the Guadalupe County Correctional Facility near Santa Rosa.The state Supreme Court ruled last year that New Mexico could seek the death penalty against the three inmates. Defense lawyers had argued the death penalty shouldn't apply because the officer worked for private-prison operator Wackenhut Corrections Corp. However, the court ruled that Garcia had the status of a "peace officer" under a law that allows the death penalty for killing lawmen.

June 29, 2005 The Santa Fe New Mexican
ALBUQUERQUE -- Lawyers for three prison inmates facing the death penalty in the 1999 slaying of a New Mexico correctional officer say the state hasn't provided adequate money for the defense. The state's chief public defender said this week that the state already is spending close to $2 million on defending the inmates, which he said is more than any other criminal case in state history. However, six private lawyers retained by the state to represent Reis Lopez, David Sanchez and Robert Young have asked a judge to let them drop out of the case. If the judge won't agree, they want the state to pay more money for the defense or drop the death-penalty request. The charges stem from the beating and killing of Officer Ralph Garcia during a 1999 inmate uprising at the Guadalupe County Correctional Facility near Santa Rosa.The state Supreme Court ruled last year that New Mexico could seek the death penalty against the three inmates. Defense lawyers had argued the death penalty shouldn't apply because the officer worked for private-prison operator Wackenhut Corrections Corp. However, the court ruled that Garcia had the status of a "peace officer" under a law that allows the death penalty for killing lawmen.

May 3, 2005 AP
Prison guards are blaming a lack of funding for an attack that injured four correctional officers in the privately run Guadalupe County Correctional Facility near Santa Rosa. "What happened in Santa Rosa will happen in Santa Fe," said Sgt. Lee Ortega, a correctional officer at the Penitentiary of New Mexico near Santa Fe, who was among about two dozen correctional officers picketing the state Capitol on Monday. Ortega, president of the northern sublocal chapter of the correctional officers union, said Corrections Secretary Joe Williams formerly worked for private prisons - an industry Ortega contends just wants to save money. Williams formerly worked for Wackenhut Corp., a private prison operator, which named him warden of the year in 2001. "The reason they would make someone warden of the year is if that warden saved money," he said. "That's what he's trying to do with the state prison. He's trying to save money, but he's making the prisons unsafe." Williams, who started his corrections career as a guard at the state penitentiary in the early 1980s, worked for Wackenhut between 1999 and 2003 as warden of the private prison at Hobbs. Four guards were injured Sunday, and one had to be hospitalized, after an inmate attacked them with a padlock inside a sock at the Santa Rosa prison. Bland said officers used tear gas to quell about 120 other inmates who got "rowdy and riled up."

The state Supreme Court has ruled prosecutors can seek the death penalty for the killing of a guard in a privately operated prison. The state Supreme Court issued the ruling in the case of three inmates accused of killing Guadalupe County Correctional Facility guard Ralph Garcia during a 1999 uprising. (AP, April 22, 2004)

August 21, 2003
Angela Vigil was stunned when officials at the Guadalupe County Correctional Facility told her she tested positive for heroin traces on her hand at a recent visit to her son here. "I've only even seen heroin once," said Vigil, a special education teacher at Highland High in Albuquerque who said she was humiliated by prison officials who denied her the time with her son. Vigil wasn't alone; many visitors to the prison here have tested positive for drug traces and been denied an inmate visit since a detection machine was installed in May, Warden Mo Bravo said. Officials say the machine— a recommendation of a panel that looked at how Wackenhut Corrections Corp. handled a deadly 1999 riot here— hasn't been without problems. But they say they've fixed it. "There was a very big issue," Bravo said. During the first month the machine was at the prison, about 20 of 50 visitors tested positive and were denied visits, Bravo said. The machine swipes a visitor's hand for trace amounts of drugs, measured in parts per million. Casual contact with drug users can leave drug traces on a nonuser's body, said Ed Brown, director of Wackenhut's Western Region Office. So many positive tests prompted officials at the prison in July to lower the allowable threshold for granting a visit, Bravo said. With the new thresholds, which vary by drug type, roughly one to two visitors a day may be denied, Bravo said. He also said that with the machine in place, fewer inmates test positive for drug use while incarcerated. Vigil, angered by her experience at the prison, had planned to describe her situation to lawmakers at a meeting of the Corrections Oversight and Justice Committee as it met Wednesday evening. While Vigil— who denies she had contact with heroin— said she was treated rudely, Bravo said he couldn't comment on her case. The machine, worth about $60,000, was one of several improvements the company made after an independent inquiry into the riot and its aftermath, which left officer Ralph Garcia dead and sent some inmates to a supermaximum facility in Wallens Ridge, Va. Wackenhut president Wayne Calabrese told lawmakers the company has spent more than $3 million in Santa Rosa and Hobbs, where it operates the Lea County Correctional Facility. The improvements include better security camera systems, enhanced fences and ceilings as well as programs to keep inmates busy and teach them skills. The company also sought— and won— from the state Legislature this year a wage increase for its corrections officers. Entry-level officers now make $9.64 an hour instead of $9, Calabrese said. (ABQ Journal)

June 8, 2002
The former assistant warden at a privately run prison here has pleaded guilty to two felony charges in connection with the abuse of some inmates. Raymond O'Rourke appeared before U.S. District Judge M. Christina Armijo on Thursday. He was sentenced to 21 months in prison after pleading guilty to a count of deprivation of rights under color of law and obstruction of justice by witness tampering. O'Rourke was accused of ordering two lieutenants to assault former inmates Tommy McManaway and David Gonzales in August 1998 at the Lincoln County Correctional Facility. He then orchestrated a cover-up of the incidents, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. The two guards, Judson McPeters and Thomas Doyle, have pleaded guilty to similar charges. They have not been sentenced. The prison is operated by Florida-based Wackenhut. (The Associated Press)

October 2000
An advisory letter from the state attorney general's office finds the state Corrections Department exceeded its authority by contracting with Wackenhut to give a retroactive per diem pay adjustment. (Santa Fe New Mexican, Oct.7, 2000)

September 1, 1999
There was a riot involving 290 inmates. A correctional officer was stabbed "numerous" times by up to 9 different inmates. The riot was in response to efforts to lock down the institution following the stabbing of an inmate.

August 12, 1999
An inmate was murdered with a laundry bag filled with rocks as he watched television.

Juvenile Justice Rehabilitation Center
Las Cruces, New Mexico
Southwest Key Inc.
June 7, 2003
The state will not leave the Juvenile Justice Rehabilitation Center under private management, despite pleas of local youth advocates, a high-ranking official said. The Children, Youth and Families Department last month announced that it would resume public management of the 48-bed juvenile jail when the contract of Florida-based Associated Marine Institutes expires June 30. That decision upset several area state legislators and youth advocates, who argue that CYFD hasn't shown it can do a better job providing rehabilitative and educational services to incarcerated youth than AMI. (ABQ Journal)

December 18, 2002
The Children, Youth and Families Department on Tuesday ended its contract with Southwest Key Programs Inc. to manage the troubled state juvenile rehabilitation center west of the city. Starting on Monday, management of the 48-bed facility will be turned over to a new private contractor, Florida-based Associated Marine Institute, or AMI, which currently operates another state juvenile detention center, Camp Sierra Blanca, near Lincoln. CYFD spokesman Romaine Serna said the groundwork for the decision to end Southwest Key's contract with the state was laid by a series of complaints raised by southern New Mexico legislators over the past year. Those concerns — including a lack of vocational training and recreational programs, a high rate of inmates prescribed psychotropic drugs, gang activity in the facility, staff misconduct and a high rate of staff turnover — were investigated by the Legislative Finance Committee and resulted in a corrective action play for Southwest Key in September. Then late on Dec. 4, two teens, who were not bedded down for the night, attacked and beat a 25-year-old guard at the facility. The guard suffered skull fractures and other injuries, and the pair of teens smashed windows in a failed escape attempt. "It (the incident) brought the whole operation into question, and at that point we decided it was in everyone's best interest to end that contractual relationship," Serna said. (ABQ Journal)

December 14, 2002
The contract with a private company that operates the Juvenile Justice Rehabilitation Center for the state here could soon be terminated, a state senator said. The 48-bed jail is operated by Southwest Key Program Inc., a Texas-based nonprofit company, under a $2.4 million annual contract with the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department. "It's my understanding that the state is in the process of terminating the contract," state Sen. Leonard Lee Rawson, R-Las Cruces, said Thursday. Rawson said the state is considering terminating the contract as a result of an investigation and the failure of Southwest Key to meet deadlines that had been set by state officials. (ABQ Journal)

December 13, 2002
A private contractor that operates the Juvenile Justice Rehabilitation Center for the state has laid off 13 employees. The action follows last week's destructive rampage by two inmates who were accused of beating a caregiver and smashing windows in an attempt to escape. The 48-bed jail is operated by Southwest Key Program Inc., a Texas-based nonprofit company, under a $2.4 million annual contract with the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department. State officials and lawmakers held hearings earlier this year in response to complaints about conditions at the facility ranging from inmate and staff assaults to drug abuse. (ABQ Journal)

September 26, 2002
Legislators greeted with skepticism a report on problems at the state's juvenile rehabilitation facility in Las Cruces. Deborah Hartz, secretary of the Children, Youth and Families Department, told lawmakers that the agency's investigation found that many of the complaints concerning the juvenile lockup had been exaggerated, were already corrected or were in the process of being fixed. "Most of the allegations were found not to be true," Hartz said. "Is the facility perfect? No." Lawmakers asked for an investigation after receiving a litany of complaints ranging from drug trafficking to staff members being involved in gang activity. The center is managed by a Texas firm under a contract to CYFD. "I'm still concerned that it was strictly an inhouse investigation," Sen. Mary Kay Papen, D-Las Cruces, said after Hartz made her report. "At $139-a-day per resident, I'm concerned that they're not getting what they need and society is not getting what it needs," Papen said. Parts of the facility are still under construction. Exercise areas, for example, are limited. Sen. Leonard Lee Rawson, R-Las Cruces, said, "I think we need to note the difference between the allegations and the findings. Sometimes, the truth is in between them." Rawson said he thought progress was being made and hoped it would continue. Hartz attributed complaints to "general start up problems" at the year-old lockup. The investigation found that illegal drug use was not rampant, according to Hartz, and, in the two confirmed cases, the drugs were traced back to inmate families and not staff members. The report also found that problems with safety and education issues were being addressed. Hartz said the investigation was conducted by top officials at the agency and went beyond what the committee requested. Hartz acknowledged that one resident was improperly restrained earlier this year. "The staff members involved were fired and the case was referred to the State Police," Hartz said. A more recent allegation of sexual contact between a staff member and juvenile resident is under investigation. Hartz said the incident was properly handled by center officials. The rehabilitation center, which houses 48 juvenile offenders, is managed by Southwest Key Inc., a Texas nonprofit organization, under a $2.4 million contract. (ABQ journal)

Lea County Correctional Facility
Hobbs, New Mexico
GEO Group (formerly know as Wackenhut Corrections), Correctional Medical Services (formerly run by Wexford)
September 26, 2007 Santa Fe Reporter
Over the last year, whistle-blowers have come forward, auditors have released findings, legislative committees have convened. All concluded that Wexford Health Sources Inc., the private company that secured an exclusive contract in 2004 to provide health care to New Mexico inmates, cut corners at the cost of prisoners’ well being. Last year, SFR published an award-winning 15-part series focusing on health care professionals’ allegations about the care in the prisons [www.sfreporter.com; “The Wexford files.” ] Although Wexford’s contract expired on June 30, 2007, inmates are now filing handwritten civil suits leveled at Wexford, the State of New Mexico and its private-prison contractor, the GEO Group. Richard Vespender, an inmate in GEO Group’s Lea County Correctional Facility, filed suit in the First Judicial District on July 3, 2007, alleging that Wexford denied him treatment for a back injury he suffered in 2001 when he slipped on a wet floor at another prison facility. Vespender, who is representing himself, says doctors had identified two herniated discs in his lower back that required surgery, but Wexford would only pay for temporary pain-killers. On Aug, 15, former Western New Mexico Correctional Facility inmate Johnny Gallegos filed suit claiming that, in the summer of 2005, Wexford employees ignored his serious urinary condition. The suit alleges that Gallegos was treated for constipation, despite regular bowel movements and, after more than a week of complaints, was finally taken to the hospital after the prison’s warden discovered him waiting in line at the medical clinic with his shorts covered in blood. While the plaintiffs have yet to respond to Gallegos’ complaint, GEO Group and the New Mexico Department of Corrections have denied culpability in Vespender’s case, and claim, in their legal response, that they are “without sufficient knowledge or information” to either admit or deny 32 of Vespender’s allegations. Most conspicuously, the plaintiffs claim they don’t know enough about Vespender’s 2006 visits to Dr. Don Apodaca, who at the time was Wexford’s medical director at the Lea County prison. Apodaca resigned in November 2006 and previously told SFR: “It came to the point where I felt uncomfortable with the medical and legal position I was in. There were individuals who needed health care who weren’t getting it.” Although NMDOC and GEO now deny sufficient knowledge of both Apodaca’s diagnosis and that of the specialists at an Albuquerque health clinic, both were cited in an April 4, 2007 memo from NMDOC denying Vespender’s final administrative appeal, which was included in Vespender’s case file. Tia Bland, spokesperson for NMDOC, says this is a moot point: As of July 1, St. Louis, Mo.-based Correctional Medical Services began handling prison health care. “If there are inmates who felt that they were not receiving proper treatment when Wexford was there, there is a process for them to let us know about that, for them to let the current vendor know about that and we certainly will address whatever their concern is now,” she says. Solomon Brown, Gallegos’ attorney, says he’s interviewed dozens of upset New Mexico inmates, and a new vendor may not be enough. “In my estimations, there’s nothing but dissatisfaction among the inmates,” Brown says. “The governor needs to appoint a group to formally look at it, or an ombudsman to go and talk to these inmates like I do and meet with them.”

September 13, 2007 AP
Some Lea County inmates set fires and broke toilets and windows after being told they would be allowed only one sausage at dinner. Jail officials said the inmates began yelling and banging on their doors in what they described in a news release as a "temper tantrum." Officers from the Lea County Sheriff's and Hobbs Police departments were called in to restore control, and the jail was locked down after Tuesday night's incident. Some 33 prisoners were involved, Warden Jann Gartman said. The remaining 300-plus prisoners at the jail accepted the meal without incident, authorities said. The damage to the jail was light, with some smoke damage and broken toilets and windows, the warden said.

February 7, 2007 The Santa Fe Reporter
At the behest of the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC), two correctional health experts have launched an extensive audit of the medical care in New Mexico’s state prisons. SFR has learned that Dr. Steve Spencer and Dr. B Jaye Anno were hired late last month by the LFC to evaluate the level of medicine provided to state inmates. Their work is part of a larger audit the Legislature is conducting of the New Mexico Corrections Department (NMCD), slated for conclusion this spring. “We needed medical expertise in our audit, because up until now we haven’t had any,” Manu Patel, the LFC’s deputy director for audits, says. “This way, it’s not just us second-guessing the Corrections Department. We can actually get a sense of what’s working and what isn’t.” Patel says the contract with Spencer and Anno is worth approximately $21,000. The health care component to the Corrections audit follows a six-month investigation by SFR into Wexford Health Sources, the private company that administers medical care to state inmates [Cover story, Aug. 9, 2006: “Hard Cell?”]. The investigation led to a request for the audit by the state Legislature’s Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee last October [Outtakes, Oct. 25, 2006: “Medical Test”]. SFR’s series also compelled Gov. Bill Richardson to terminate the state’s contract with Wexford in December, a process that will likely take until June, when the prison medical contract is up for renewal [Outtakes, Dec. 13, 2006: “Wexford Under Fire”]. Regardless of Wexford’s fate, the LFC is pressing ahead with the audit. “We are looking at this serving a long-term benefit to the Corrections Department, so that we can all better evaluate the medical program in the prisons and its services,” Patel says. Spencer, a former medical director of NMCD, and Anno, who co-founded the National Commission on Correctional Health Care, started work on Feb. 5, when they traveled to Lea County Correctional Facility in Hobbs. “We’re going to look at a number of things when we travel to the sights,” Spencer says. “We’ll look at the adequacy of staffing, the appropriateness of care, the timeliness and use of off-site specialists. We’ll review inmate deaths and whether Corrections is adequately monitoring the contractor.” Moreover, the medical audit will involve a review of the contract between Wexford and the Corrections Department, as well as sifting through tuberculosis, HIV and other medical testing data. Various medical personnel will also be interviewed throughout the process, Spencer says. Inadequate tuberculosis testing, chronic staffing shortages and a systemic failure to send inmates off-site have been among the concerns raised to SFR by former and current Wexford employees [Outtakes, Oct. 18, 2006: “Corrections Concerns”]. In an e-mail, Wexford Vice President Elaine Gedman said, in part, that Wexford plans to cooperate with the audit and is confident its outcome will be positive. She also said Wexford is cooperating with NMCD for a smooth transition. NMCD spokeswoman Tia Bland tells SFR that Corrections is still working on a request for proposal, set to go out in March, that will kick off the agency’s search for a new medical provider. “We’re providing [the auditors] with whatever they need, and whatever the results are, we’ll use that information to our advantage in working with the next vendor,” Bland says. Bland reiterates NMCD’s contention that Wexford violated the terms of its contract with the state because of staffing problems. She says Corrections is still analyzing whether Wexford broke other contractual stipulations. During the mid-1990s, Spencer and Anno were hired by the Wyoming Department of Corrections to conduct medical audits of its prisons. Wexford, which administered health care for the Wyoming DOC, eventually became embroiled in a US Justice Department investigation regarding prison health care in that state and lost its contract. Recalls Anno: “There were a number of problems with Wexford’s operation in Wyoming.”

November 28, 2006 Santa Fe Reporter
In the latest setback for Wexford Health Sources, a former employee has slapped the prison health care company with a civil lawsuit alleging racial discrimination. The suit, filed Oct. 25 in US District Court in Albuquerque, alleges that former health services administrator Don Douglas was fired by Wexford last October because he is black. Moreover, the suit alleges that sick and injured inmates at Lea County Correctional Facility in Hobbs, where Douglas worked, received poor treatment and that the facility lacked critical medical staff. Wexford, which administers health care in New Mexico’s prisons, has been the subject of a four-month SFR investigation [Cover story, Aug. 9: “Hard Cell?”]. As a result, the Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee held a hearing last month, and the Legislative Finance Committee is slated to audit Wexford and the New Mexico Corrections Department [Outtakes, Nov. 8: “Prison Audit Ahead”]. The allegations in Douglas’ lawsuit echo many of the concerns from employees who have talked to SFR. Specifically, it charges that even though Douglas alerted a Wexford corporate administrator about medical and staffing problems, the company did not respond. Instead, according to the lawsuit, Douglas’ job was audited and he was found negligent, despite no prior problems and a record of exemplary job evaluations. On Oct. 10, 2005, Douglas was fired and replaced by a white woman, the lawsuit says. “Wexford did not provide critical health care in a timely manner, and I called attention to that,” Douglas tells SFR. “Inmates have a civil right as incarcerated American citizens to be afforded adequate health care. But that service is not being provided, and Wexford is neglecting inmates.” Douglas began working at Wexford in July 2004, but also worked for its predecessor, Addus. Shortly after his firing, Douglas filed a complaint with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). A June 5 letter from the EEOC’s Albuquerque office says the agency found reasonable cause to believe Douglas “was terminated because of his race.” When queried by SFR, Wexford Vice President Elaine Gedman wrote in a Nov. 27 e-mail that Wexford is withholding comment until the forthcoming audit is complete and referred to 14 prior successful audits of Wexford. Corrections spokeswoman Tia Bland also would not comment on the lawsuit and noted that NMCD does not oversee Wexford personnel matters. Says Deshonda Charles Tackett, Douglas’ lawyer: “This is an important case. Mr. Douglas should not have to suffer racial discrimination in an effort to provide inmates with proper health care.”

November 22, 2006 Santa Fe Reporter
The medical director of a state prison in Hobbs has stepped down from his post less than a month after a legislative committee requested an audit of the corrections health care in the state. Dr. Don Apodaca, medical director of Lea County Correctional Facility (LCCF), turned in his resignation on Nov. 6 due to concerns that inmates there are not receiving sufficient access to health care. According to Apodaca, sick inmates are routinely denied off-site visits to medical specialists and sometimes have to wait months to receive critical prescription drugs. Apodaca blames the policies of Wexford Health Sources, the private company that contracts with the state to provide medicine in New Mexico’s prisons, for these alleged problems. Wexford has been the subject of a four-month SFR investigation, during which a growing number of former and current employees have contended that Wexford is more concerned with saving money than providing adequate health care, and that inmates suffer as a result. On Oct. 24, the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC) tentatively approved an audit that will assess Wexford’s contract with the New Mexico Corrections Department (NMCD) and also evaluate the quality of health care rendered to inmates [Outtakes, Nov. 8: “Prison Audit Ahead”]. LCCF’s medical director since January 2006, Apodaca is one of the highest-ranking ex-Wexford employees to come forward thus far. His allegations of Wexford’s denials of off-site care and the delays in obtaining prescription drugs echo those raised by other former and current employees during the course of reporting for this series [Cover story, Aug. 9: “Hard Cell?”]. Specifically, Apodaca says he personally evaluated inmates who needed off-site, specialty care, but that Wexford consistently denied his referrals. Apodaca cites the cases of an inmate who needed an MRI, another inmate who suffered from a hernia and a third inmate who had a cartilage tear in his knee as instances in which inmates were denied off-site care for significant periods of time against his recommendations. When inmates are actually cleared for off-site care in Albuquerque, they are transported in full shackles without access to a bathroom for the six- to seven-hour trip, Apodaca says. “Inmates told me they aren’t allowed to go to the bathroom and ended up soiling themselves,” he says. “The trip is so bad they end up refusing to go even when we get the off-site visits approved.” When it comes to prescription drugs, there also are significant delays, Apodaca says. Inmates sometimes wait weeks or even months for medicine used for heart and blood pressure conditions, even though Apodaca says he would write orders for those medicines repeatedly. “Wexford was not providing timely treatment and diagnoses of inmates,” he says. “There were tragic cases where patients slipped through the cracks, were not seen for inordinately long times and suffered serious or fatal consequences.” Apodaca says he began documenting the medical problems at the facility in March. After detailing in writing the cases of 40 to 50 patients whom he felt had not received proper clinical care, Apodaca says he alerted Dr. Phillip Breen, Wexford’s regional medical director, and Cliff Phillips, Wexford’s regional health services administrator, through memos, e-mails and phone calls. In addition, Apodaca says he alerted Wexford’s corporate office in Pittsburgh. Neither Breen nor Phillips returned phone messages left by SFR. Apodaca says he also informed Devendra Singh, NMCD’s quality assurance manager for health services. According to Apodaca, Singh assured him that he would require Wexford to look into the matter, but Apodaca says he never heard a final response. “Wexford was simply not receptive to any of the information I was sending them, and I became exasperated,” he says. “It came to the point where I felt uncomfortable with the medical and legal position I was in. There were individuals who needed health care who weren’t getting it.” Singh referred all questions to NMCD spokeswoman Tia Bland; Bland responded to SFR in a Nov. 20 e-mail: “If Don Apodaca has information involving specific incidents, we will be happy to look into the situation. Otherwise, we will wait for the LFC’s audit results, review them and take it from there.” Wexford Vice President Elaine Gedman would not comment specifically on Apodaca’s allegations. In a Nov. 20 e-mail to SFR, she wrote that Wexford will cooperate with the Legislature’s audit and is confident the outcome will be similar to the 14 independent audits performed since May 2005 by national correctional organizations. “Wexford is proud of the service we have provided to the Corrections Department as documented in these independent audits and looks forward to continuing to provide high quality health care services in New Mexico,” Gedman writes. Members of the Legislature’s Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee, which requested the forthcoming audit, toured LCCF on Oct. 19 and were told by both Wexford and NMCD officials that there were no health care problems at the facility. On the same tour, however, committee members heard firsthand accounts from inmates who complained they couldn’t get treatment when they became sick [Outtakes, Oct. 25: “Medical Test”]. That visit, along with Apodaca’s accounts, calls into question Wexford’s and NMCD’s accounts, State Sen. Cisco McSorley, D-Bernalillo, says. “We were told on our tour that nothing was wrong. And now to hear that there is a claim that Wexford and the Corrections Department might have known about this makes it seem like this information was knowingly covered up,” McSorley, co-chairman of the committee, says. “We can’t trust what’s being told to us. The situation may require independent oversight far beyond what we have. This should be the biggest story in the state right now.”

November 8, 2006 Santa Fe Reporter
The New Mexico State Legislature is one step closer to an audit of Wexford Health Sources, the private company that administers health care in New Mexico’s prisons. On Oct. 24, the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC) tentatively approved the audit, which will evaluate Wexford’s contract with the New Mexico Corrections Department (NMCD) and also assess the quality of health care administered to inmates. The request for a review of Wexford originated with the state Legislature’s Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee, which voted unanimously on Oct. 20 to recommend the audit after a hearing on prison health care in Hobbs [Outtakes, Oct. 25: “Medical Test”]. A subsequent Oct. 30 letter sent to the LFC by committee co-chairmen Rep. Joseph Cervantes, D-Doña Ana, and Sen. Cisco McSorley, D-Bernalillo, refers to “serious complaints raised by present and former employees” of Wexford. The letter cites this newspaper’s reportage of the situation and notes that on a recent tour of Lea County Correctional Facility in Hobbs, “committee members heard numerous concerns from inmates about medical problems not being addressed.” It also refers to confidential statements Wexford employees provided to the committee that were then turned over to the LFC. The decision to examine Wexford and NMCD comes on the coattails of months of reports that state inmates are suffering behind bars due to inadequate medical services, documented in an ongoing, investigative series by SFR. Over the past three months, former and current employees have alleged staffing shortages as well as problems with the dispensation of prescription drugs and the amount of time sick inmates are forced to wait before receiving urgent care [Cover story, Aug. 9: “Hard Cell?”]. The timing, Manu Patel, the LFC’s deputy director for audits, says, is ideal, because the LFC already planned to initiate a comprehensive audit of NMCD, the first in recent history. Regarding the medical component of the audit, Patel says: “We will be looking at how cost-effective Wexford has been. Also, we will be looking at the quality of care, how long inmates have to wait to receive care and what [Wexford’s] services are like.” Patel says the LFC plans to contract with medical professionals to help evaluate inmates’ care. As per a request from the Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee, current Wexford employees will be given a chance to participate in the audit anonymously. The audit’s specifics require final approval from the LFC in December; the committee will likely take up to six months to generate a report, according to Patel. In a Nov. 6 e-mail to SFR, Wexford Vice President Elaine Gedman cites 14 successful, independent audits performed of Wexford in New Mexico since May 2005. “Wexford is proud of the service we have provided to the Corrections Department as documented in these independent audits and looks forward to continuing high quality health care services in New Mexico,” Gedman writes. NMCD spokeswoman Tia Bland echoes Gedman: “We welcome the audit and plan on cooperating any way we can,” she says. Meanwhile, former employees continue to come forward. Kathryn Hamilton, an ex-NMCD mental health counselor, says she worked alongside Wexford staff at the Pen for two months, shortly after the company took the reins in New Mexico in July 2004. Hamilton alleges that mentally ill inmates were cut off psychotropic medicine for cheaper, less effective drugs and that inmates waited too long to have prescriptions renewed and suffered severe behavioral withdrawals as a result. Hamilton, who had worked at the Pen since April 2002, says she encountered the same sorts of problems under Addus, Wexford’s predecessor, but quit shortly after Wexford’s takeover because the situation wasn’t improving. “They would stop meds, give inmates the wrong meds or refuse to purchase meds that were not on their formulary, even if they were prescribed by a doctor,” Hamilton says. “I felt angry, sometimes helpless, although I always tried to speak with administrators to help the inmates.” Hamilton married a state inmate by proxy last month, after continuing a correspondence with him following her tenure at the Pen. Hamilton says she did not serve as a counselor to the inmate, Anthony Hamilton, but met him after helping conduct a series of mental health evaluations. Hamilton has been a licensed master social worker under her maiden name since 2000 (according to the New Mexico Board of Social Work Examiners). She emphasizes that her relationship with her husband did not begin until after she left the Corrections Department. According to Hamilton, her husband, still incarcerated at the Pen for aggravated assault, recently contracted methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a serious staph infection. In a previous story, four current Wexford employees specifically mentioned MRSA as a concern to SFR because they allege Wexford does not supply proper protective equipment for staff treating infectious diseases like MRSA [Outtakes, Oct. 18: “Corrections Concerns”]. Wexford Vice President Gedman did not address Hamilton’s claims when queried by SFR. Corrections spokeswoman Bland also says she can’t comment on Hamilton’s allegations because she had not spoken with Hamilton’s supervisor at the time of her employment. Says Hamilton: “I initially called the newspaper as the concerned wife of an inmate, not as a former therapist. With all the stories the Reporter has done, I wanted to come forward with what I had seen at the Pen.”

July 22, 2003
The state Supreme Court on Monday affirmed a prison inmate's first-degree murder conviction for the death of a fellow prisoner at the Lea County Correctional Facility. The high court rejected Paul Payne's arguments on appeal that his constitutional rights were violated and there was not enough evidence to support his convictions.
Payne was convicted in the June 17, 1999, death of Richard Garcia at the private prison in Hobbs, operated by Wackenhut Corrections Corp. Garcia was in an isolation cell when a guard opened the door to it, allowing Payne and another inmate - who were working as porters outside their cells - to enter. Garcia was stabbed more than 40 times. (AP)

May 4, 2003
A Lea County Detention Center inmate who stood guard outside a cell while another inmate was killed was convicted of murder Thursday. A court translator informed Juan Mendez that he was found guilty of murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Mendez is one of six inmates charged in the Jan. 13, 1999, stabbing death of Robert Ortega. Authorities said Ortega was stabbed more than 70 times.
July 22, 2003
The state Supreme Court on Monday affirmed a prison inmate's first-degree murder conviction for the death of a fellow prisoner at the Lea County Correctional Facility. The high court rejected Paul Payne's arguments on appeal that his constitutional rights were violated and there was not enough evidence to support his convictions.
Payne was convicted in the June 17, 1999, death of Richard Garcia at the private prison in Hobbs, operated by Wackenhut Corrections Corp. Garcia was in an isolation cell when a guard opened the door to it, allowing Payne and another inmate - who were working as porters outside their cells - to enter. Garcia was stabbed more than 40 times. (AP)

May 4, 2003
A Lea County Detention Center inmate who stood guard outside a cell while another inmate was killed was convicted of murder Thursday. A court translator informed Juan Mendez that he was found guilty of murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Mendez is one of six inmates charged in the Jan. 13, 1999, stabbing death of Robert Ortega. Authorities said Ortega was stabbed more than 70 times.

November 18, 2002
Richardson announced Thursday that Santa Fe lawyer Mark Donatelli and Joe Williams, warden of the private prison in Hobbs, will co-chair Richardson's Corrections Transition Team, charged with identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and "major threats" to the department. Williams was a former warden of the state medium-security prison in Los Lunas until the late 1990s, when he was hired by the Florida-based Wackenhut Corp., which operates a 1,200-bed private prison in Hobbs. During his campaign, Richardson frequently said he did not want to spend money to build new prison cells, often adding variations of the sound bite, "I want to invest in people, not prisons." Richardson never took a stand on whether the state should continue using private companies to operate prisons - though he said more than once that he had toured Wackenhut's Hobbs facility and was favorably impressed. Donatelli said that one of the first things the state needs to do is re-evaluate the effectiveness of private prisons. "There's no credible evidence that private prisons save money," he said. "The budget keeps going up." (Santa Fe New Mexican)

November 13, 2002
A Hobbs prison guard who helped beat up two handcuffed inmates on the orders of an associate warden was sentenced Tuesday to four years probation. While Senior U.S. District Judge John Edwards Conway did not sentence ex-lieutenant Thomas Doyle McCoy to prison, as suggested by one of the inmates, he did take up a suggestion that McCoy make a videotape to help dissuade other law officers from using excessive force. McCoy pleaded guilty in March to two counts of conspiracy to obstruct justice. He admitted that he and fellow lieutenant Judson McPeters beat inmates Tommy McMannaway and David Gonzales during separate incidents in 1998. Conway said McCoy had to be as "stupid as they come." "I can't understand why when an assistant warden asks you to beat up somebody, why you don't say, "That's not my job," Conway told McCoy. McPeters pleaded guilty in February to two counts of conspiracy to obstruct justice and is to be sentenced today in Las Cruces. He has said he participated in the beatings. The government recommended McPeters and McCoy get probation because they cooperated with an FBI-based Wackenhut Corrections Corp. McCoy and McPeters said they were ordered to beat up prisoners by then-associate warden Raymond O'Rourke and told to cover up the incident. O'Rourke pleaded guilty in June to one count of deprivation of an inmate's civil rights and obstruction of justice. He was sentenced to 21 months in prison and fined $25,000. Former prison guard Gary Butler was sentenced Thursday to 37 months in prison and fined $7,500 for helping beat up inmate Eric Duran in 1998 and covering it up. Wackenhut, meanwhile has settled lawsuits brought by Duran and McMannaway. Lawyer Mark Donatelli, who pushed for an investigation of the prison and represented McMannaway and Duran, said the settlements are confidential. (Journal Staff)

November 11, 2002
Bernalillo County officials have launched talks with private companies about the possibility of them operating the Downtown jail to house federal or state inmates. Bernalillo County has built a new 2,100-bed Metropolitan Detention Center on the West Mesa. The main Downtown jail will be vacated after inmates are moved to the new lockup, probably later this month and in December. During a city-county Government Commission meeting Tuesday, jail employees union President Anthony Marquez spoke against turning the Downtown jail over to a private company. "Let's not try to make a buck off of it," he said. (Desertnews.com)

July 18, 2002
An inmate accused of acting as a lookout while another prisoner was killed has been charged with murder. Juan Mendez, a former inmate at the private Lea County Correctional Facility, was arraigned Tuesday on charges of murder, conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with evidence. Bond was set at $250,000. Mendez, 33, is the fifth person indicted in connection with the Jan. 13, 1999 stabbing death of Robert Ortega, who was attacked in his cell at the Hobbs prison, owned and operated by Florida-based Wackenhut Corrections Corp. (The Associated Press State and Local Wire)

June 21, 2002
A prison inmate has been sentenced to life plus nine years for the murder of a fellow prisoner who was stabbed to death in his cell - the victim of 50 wounds. Paul Payne, 28, was sentenced after being convicted Monday of murdering Richard Garcia in June 1999 at the privately run Lea County Correctional Facility. According to trial testimony, the killers left Garcia's cell yelling "white power!" and raising their fists. A guard was removed from his job after an inquiry determined he had allowed Payne and co-defendant John Price into Garcia's cell, Assistant District Attorney Melissa Honigmann said. The Lea County facility is operated by Florida-based Wackenhut Corrections Corp. (The Associated Press State and Local Wire)

April 12, 2002
Two ex-guards from a privately run Hobbs prison were convicted Friday of civil rights violations in the 1998 beating of an inmate and of conspiring with a third guard to cover it up. Lt. Matias Serrata, Lt. William Fuller and Kendall Lipscomb of Wackenhut Corrections Corp. were all found guilty of obstructing justice with the cover-up and of conspiring to obstruct justice. Serrata and Fuller also were convicted of violating the civil rights of inmate Eric Duran, who was kicked several times in the head. A fourth guard, Gary Butler, who had pleaded guilty earlier to civil rights and conspiracy charges, testified that he had hit himself in the face at the suggestion of Fuller, then went to Hobbs police with a story that the inmate had attacked him. "Those who we trust to enforce the law have one of the most difficult and important of all jobs," U.S. Attorney David Iglesias said in a statement released Friday. "When anyone in such a position violates the rights of others, they not only injure the individual but they also injure the vast majority of law enforcement officers who perform their duties with honor." Serrata had said the incident happened within 30 or 40 seconds while a riot was going on in an adjoining dining area. The Lea County Correctional Facility, which holds up to 1,200 inmates, is run Wackenhut. (AP)

March 31, 2002
The same day Hobbs prison inmate Eric Duran was rushed to a hospital emergency room after losing consciousness, then-guard Gary Butler walked into a Hobbs police station with bruises to his face and filed a report accusing the prisoner of battering him. Nearly two years later, Butler admitted that he punched himself in the face to try to justify an altercation with Duran, who was kicked unconscious. Butler, 28, also told federal authorities that he and other guards tried to cover up Duran's beating, concocting a story that Duran hit himself on the floor, a wall and a windowsill while being restrained. On Tuesday, a two-week trial begins in Roswell for former prison lieutenants William Fuller, 37, and Matias Serrata Jr., 29, and former officer Kendall Lipscomb, 25, who face federal charges in connection with the Dec. 21, 1998, incident with Duran. Butler is expected to testify against them. Some unnamed guards who witnessed the incident also are expected to testify for the Justice Department's Office of Civil Rights, court records say. Butler pleaded guilty in August 2001 to one count each of deprivation of rights under color of law and conspiracy to commit a felony. As part of a plea deal, Butler agreed to cooperate and truthfully tell investigators about the incident. With his deal, Butler became one of a handful of guards who admitted heavy-handedness at the Lea County Correctional Facility, which holds up to 1,200 state inmates under contract with Florida-based Wackenhut Corrections Corp. The Duran incident is one of three reported inmate beatings in 1998 that left guards facing criminal charges. They were investigated by state and local police as well as the FBI. "Gary Butler has agreed with everything that Eric has said," Donatelli said. "Eric's account was corroborated by numerous staff there. It's not just the word of an inmate seeking damages from Wackenhut. It's also the word of people who worked for Wackenhut." The Justice Department lawyers said Duran's assault followed an incident when Duran refused to sit at his assigned seat in the prison dining hall and was involved in an argument with Lipscomb and another guard. Duran was taken to "P-15 hallway," where he "verbally disrespected" Fuller, the brief said. The brief said Fuller yelled at Duran to face a wall, put his hands on the wall and made unspecified threats. According to the brief: Duran was ordered to put his hands behind his back to be handcuffed, but only gave one hand because he was afraid of being beaten. He asked that the guards videotape the incident, but the guards refused. Duran finally gave both hands to be handcuffed, and when he did, Fuller and Butler allegedly slammed him to the floor. The brief said Duran didn't resist. "As Duran lay face down on the floor, surrounded by officers and handcuffed behind his back, Lt. Fuller stood up, stepped to Duran's upper body and delivered a forceful kick to the inmate's head," the trial brief said. Butler also allegedly kicked Duran in the head. "Fuller and Butler alternated kicking Duran, as the inmate's head 'flopped' back and forth from one side to the other," the trial brief said. (Albuquerque Journal)

March 13, 2002
Another former guard at the privately run prison in Hobbs has pleaded guilty to federal charges related to the 1998 beatings of two inmates and subsequent cover-ups. Former lieutenant Thomas Doyle McCoy entered guilty pleas Tuesday in federal court in Albuquerque to two counts of conspiracy to obstruct justice. He faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison on each count. The charges were filed by the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division following an investigation of the Lea County Correctional Facility by the FBI. As part of a plea bargain, McCoy admitted he participated in the beatings of inmates David Gonzales and Tommy McManaway, who were assaulted separately in August 1998. The beatings, court records say, were ordered by former high-ranking officials at the prison, which is run by Florida-based Wackenhut Corrections Corp. Prison warden Joe Williams has said the administration changed hands in 1999, that none of the people involved in the incidents works there any longer and that his guards treat inmates with respect. Attorney Mark Donatelli, who represents McManaway in a suit against the prison, said "we appreciate the willingness of Mr. McCoy to accept responsibility for his actions. "More importantly, we believe the investigation and prosecution by the Justice Department will send a message to other corrections officers that will help prevent other inmates from being victimized like Tommy was." McCoy's plea follows that of former lieutenant Judson McPeters, who pleaded guilty Feb. 20 to two counts of obstruction of justice which stemmed from the beatings of Gonzales and McManaway. According to McCoy's plea agreement, McCoy and McPeters slammed Gonzales to the ground, where an officer handcuffed him. McCoy "then kicked the restrained inmate and twisted his ankle until it popped, while other officers also assaulted the inmate, although there was no legitimate penological reason for the use of force," the plea agreement said. The plea deal also said McCoy kicked McManaway in the testicles while the inmate was lying face down, fully restrained, on the shower room floor. Another lieutenant kicked McManaway in the side. The document said guards and supervisors got together to concoct false stories. For instance, they said the inmates lunged at or tried to strike guards, requiring the use of force. The reports minimized the guards' use of force. (Albuquerque Journal)

February 25, 2002
The head of the privately run prison in Hobbs said the acts of a few former guards or officials accused of battering inmates in 1998 do not reflect the philosophy of the lockup. Joe Williams, warden of the Lea County Correctional Facility, said last week that he and his staff have worked hard to "turn this place around." Williams and many of his staff are former corrections officers or wardens of lockups run by the state Department of Corrections. The Hobbs prison is run by Florida-based Wackenhut Corrections Corp. and houses up to 1,200 inmates under a contract with the state. Williams made the remarks the day after a former lieutenant at the prison admitted in court in Albuquerque that he and other prison guards participated in the August 1998 beatings of two inmates and subsequent cover-ups at the request of a former associate warden. The guard pleaded guilty to two federal counts of obstruction of justice. A lawyer who fights for inmate rights said after Wednesday's hearing that a similar incident at the prison in December 1998 — in which four former guards allegedly beat an inmate and covered it up — shows a pattern of abuse there at the time. The FBI investigated the incidents and charges were filed by the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, which alleges that inmates were falsely blamed at both times by the guards for instigating incidents that required use of force. The use of force was excessive and unjustified, according to the Justice Department. The four ex-guards are to go on trial in April on charges including conspiracy and violation of civil rights. (ABQ Journal)

February 21, 2002
A former corrections officer at the privately run prison in Hobbs has confirmed that he and other guards beat inmates and trie