What Caused The Deadly 1980 New Mexico Prison Riot?

I love Texas and New Mexico history but it has its dark side. A prison in Santa Fe New Mexico kicked off the 80's with a riot that killed 33 people and wounded 200 others.

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Prisons aren't typically known for being pleasant environments but conditions within the New Mexico Prison in Santa Fe, in 1980, seemed hellish. Designed to hold 900 inmates, its population was 1,136 when the riot happened.

Overcrowding was just one of the things that had inmates riled up. They also complained of unsanitary conditions, bad food and abusive guards. Racial and gang related issues were also pretty common and several rehab, educational and rec programs and activities had recently been taken away. It was also the only prison in New Mexico where murder witnesses were locked up with the murderers they snitched on. It was a bomb waiting to go off.

The New Mexico Prison Riot Begins

February 2nd, 1980 at about 1:40am, two inmates were caught drinking homemade booze. They overpowered the guard, jacked his keys and started letting other inmates out. In just a few hours, the prisoners had total control of the wing.

Things In The Prison Go From Bad To Worse

According the Facebook post below, a 2nd set of keys, dropped by a guard trying to escape the area, gave inmates access to not only cell blocks but also the prison armory and its "protective custody" wing where the "snitches" and sex offenders were.

Gangs like the Aryan Brotherhood and Los Carnales targeted these inmates, torturing, sodomizing, and killing them with makeshift weapons, blowtorches, and axes. Twelve officers were taken hostage; seven were beaten, stabbed, or sodomized, though none died. (Facebook)

Extreme Violence Within The Prison

Among other things, targeted inmates were beaten, burned, mutilated and decapitated. These actions were carried out so brutally that axe marks were left in the concrete walls and floors. Some of the inmates, all killed by other inmates, had over 50 stab wounds.

Careful, this video is pretty rough ...

No prisoners were ever convicted of murder due to sketchy evidence regarding exactly who did what and an overall mistrust of the inmates. Several guards did face charges for abuse prior to the riot but none were convicted.

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