1980 New Mexico State Penitentiary riot

I have a few relatives who worked in the prison when this happened one of whom was one of the guards who was imprisoned during the riot but was kept safe from violence by inmates. I was only 6 or 7 years old when this went down so I don't remember too much about the time clearly, but it's one of those things that's sort of "unspoken" in the family...it never gets brought up except in whispers here and there.

As a lifelong New Mexican, I am always surprised at the warm, genial reputation that Governor Bruce King has in this state, held up as some kind of gentle, peaceful, lovable guy who brought us all puppies and kittens or something, when he fact he was a fairly mediocre governor and pretty much has blood on his hands for what happened here and went to far as to downplay it as if it wasn't prison conditions and him not giving a shit about it that were direct causes. He resisted pretty much any attempt to reform the penn and some have even gone so far to argue that he actively participated in a cover up of a variety of different things that were coming up after the riot (evidence of guard abuse, etc..) If anyone wants to read up on this, probably the best book about it to come out of NM is a book entitled "The Devil's Butcher Shop."
As far as I know, most of the penn that was involved in the riots has been basically closed off and not used for much of anything anymore, the more modern parts now replacing the function of the old section. However, the segment of the prison most closely involved in the riots was used for the production of that Adam Sandler remake of Longest Yard, interestingly enough.

StanleyPain - 2012-11-10

To clarify, the Penitentiary is still there, but it's an entirely new facility basically next door to where the old pen. was with some places re-built or incorporated into the new. My dad was an educational administrator there for about 15 years (until he retired in 2009) and privately worked with some of the isolated inmates (including Terry Clark and Shane Harrison)

EvilHomer - 2012-11-10

Being the site of an Adam Sandler movie is sadly fitting.

You wouldn't happen to know anything about that "Duran Decree", would you? One of the YT commentors mentions it, and a quick look on Google indicates that it was very important, both to the riots and to the NM prison system in general, but Wikipedia is almost totally silent about it.

StanleyPain - 2012-11-10

Dwight Duran was a prisoner in the pen. just before the riots happened and while he was there he sued the State over the living conditions there. Basically even after getting out, he kept bringing litigation against the governor which was stalled at every opportunity. Eventually, Duran got a lot of support over the years and in the 90s, his case was turned into the core case for prison reform in NM. The litigation resulted in a settlement that totally changed prisoners rights and all sorts of things, though it didn't really take any meaningful effect until King was out of office in 1995 and his successor basically went about doing all the things he wouldn't.

memedumpster

- 2012-11-10

Watch this.

gravelstudios - 2012-11-11

My Dad is a corrections officer in Hagerstown MD. He started 1 or 2 years after a major riot there. Some of the stories that other officers have told him are pretty terrifying, but several inmates have already indicated that they'd protect him if anything went down again.

Green_Void

- 2012-11-11

I worked on a short film that was shot there a few years ago and some of the crew got a guided tour of the place from one of the guards who was there in the 80s. (Not one of the hostages mentioned in this documentary... I think he was off the day the riots started)
He showed us marks on the floor that he said were from where someone had been chopped up with an axe. He said people were playing football or soccer with a severed head in another hallway. There were stains in the concrete in another spot that he claimed were blood.
There's a gas chamber in a lower level that looks like it was built strong enough to hold a bear, but it was never used.
People claim all the time to have seen/heard strange things when working there, but I never did.

Scrotum H. Vainglorious - 2012-11-11

The Wiki entry on this riot has said pics of the axe marks.

	\| 73Q Music Videos \| Vote On Clips \| Submit \| Login \|
Random - Hot Videos - Rated: 7 Days \| 30 Days \| All Time - Favorited: 7 Days \| 30 Days \| All Time - Viewed: 7 Days \| 30 Days \| All Time