Transcript Descent into Madness - LaFayette School District

Descent into Madness:
The New Mexico State Prison Riot
Mark Colvin
Most horrific prison riot in history
36 hours
33 inmates killed by other inmates
200 inmates severely injured – beating,
stabbing, rape
OD’s from drugs from the pharmacy
12 corrections officers taken hostage
None killed
Seven beaten, stabbed, sodomized
Some guards protected by inmates
Some helped to escape riots by inmates
Prisoners risked their own lives
To keep others from harm
20 million dollars damage
200 million in response costs and aftermath
Methodology
300 in-depth interviews
Prisoners
Guards
Officials
History of the prison is important to
understand what happened
Not always violent and disorderly
Big change in three to four years prior to riot
Background
At Attica,
A few hours of rioting turned into organized
protest of prison conditions
No more deaths until authorities retook prison
At New Mexico riot,
Huge disorganization
Many inmate on inmate killings
Exceptionally brutal
1976
Reduction of privileges and programs leads to
Peaceful, organized protest
Response – new era – more coercion and
violence
Strike broken with violence
Teargas
Gauntlet – axe handles
Leaders identified, transferred out of state
Inmate leadership – provided social cohesion –
now gone
“Hole” – solitary reopened and used
Segregation for discipline more common
Lots of turnover in state leadership
Similarly, at local level,
five wardens in five years
Administrative confusion – conflicting policies
Clique of administrators running show, virtually
unaccountable to anyone
Growing inconsistencies in security
and discipline
In a prison, consistency and routine are hugely
important
Now, inmates can not calculate punishment for
different behaviors
Seen by inmates as harassment
Prison officers get caught up in “harassment
game” – prisoners go to hole
The “snitch game”
Privileges for telling on others
Punishment for not cooperating with guards
“hang a snitch jacket” on someone –
Guards threaten to tell other inmates that you
are a snitch, even if you aren’t
Certain cellblock used for “protection”
History of little inmate to inmate violence
Gives way to murder, and routine fights and
sexual assaults
Social order had been disturbed
Forces that held back disorder dissolved
Inmate leadership removed
Small, self-protective cliques emerge
New inmates arrive into a volatile atmosphere
Violence not imported from outside
New inmates face tough choices
Submit to others
Become a snitch
Fight other inmates – “don’t mess with them”
Submission
Labeled “morally weak”
Won’t stand up for yourself
PC’d up -protective custody- also weak
Snitch – weakest of the weak
Competition for violent reputations
Leads to increased violence – daily
occurrences
Anglo vs. Chicano fights
Anglo cliques emerge
All these forces
Lead to a fragmented prison society
Which finally explodes in 1980
Overview of the riot
pp.201-207
Summary
Explosive episode had its roots going back
much further
Lack of organization of the riot and inmate to
inmate violence make it notable
Violence caused by a few cliques
Cliques emerge due to organizational changes
and control policy changes