It was called Project Newgate and the money was used to support programs such as prisoner education, job training, and community service. Limited numbers of visitors walk through the building, where hatchet marks are still visible on the floor. Video was shot August, 2016 and filmed with permission of staff and tour guide. of enchantment. Juliet can be reached on Twitter @JulietWrites. Some of the guards had been protected by inmates; others were brutally beaten. [6] The design of the original facility on Cerrillos Road was based on the same plans used for Sing Sing and Joliet. The peak population of the New Mexico State Penitentiary reached 1,272 inmates. New Mexico State Penitentiary sits about 15 miles from Santa Fe, New Mexico. A week earlier, these men were placed in an open dormitory, E2, while renovations were being made to cell block five. The inmate declared that he was tired of this place, and plotted that night with the other prisoners: When the correctional officers come to do the count, if they dont lock the door, were going to jump them and take over, the inmate had said. His experience kept the tour from seeming morbid or voyeuristic. You couldnt really make up a worse set of unfortunate factors and bad management: recently installed but untested bulletproof glass; an unsecured construction site in one cell block (thats where the blowtorches came from); prison policy that dressed vulnerable prisoners (pedophiles, snitches, etc) in different-color jumpsuits, and so on. It fuels the cycle of violence, leading to more violence and terror.. 119132, New Mexico State Penitentiary Board of Commissioners (1924), "2020 CENSUS - CENSUS BLOCK MAP (INDEX): Santa Fe County, NM", "Adult Prisons Division - Penitentiary of New Mexico, Santa Fe", "For Riot Site in New Mexico, a Gift Shop but No Ghost Stories", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Penitentiary_of_New_Mexico&oldid=1104321810, This page was last edited on 14 August 2022, at 06:32. Old Main closed in 1998 but you can sometimes take a tour. I think they [the prison guards] tried to say [to Chavez] stop doing what youre doing, says Francisco Macias, a lawyer based in El Paso, who was previously representing Chavez in a civil rights lawsuit against the NMCD that alleges, onfined at the Special Control Facilities (SCFs), a 544-bed segregation facility in both the high-security North and South units of the current New Mexico Prison. An approved visitor can send a money order with the inmates name and number to the facility. There were only 34 guards working in the prison. Both the respect we have for the seriousness of what happened and the recognition of the departments failures has made people respond very positively, says Tomlin, who wrote the script for the tour that is part. Half-Day Santa Fe Food and History Walking Tour. . more, Ghost & Vampire Tours Historical & Heritage Tours Walking Tours Night Tours Private Tours, The Best of Santa Fe & The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum: Private Tour, Small-Group E-Bike Adventure Tour through Hidden Santa Fe, New Mexican Flavors Food Tour of the Santa Fe Plaza. A look into the 1980 Old Main prison riot and the resulting institutionalisation of solitary confinement in US prisons. It seems to be working. [1] " Old Main" was closed up after the prison riot of 1980. In 2013, the prison reopened its doors to the public with a two-hour guided tour, operated by the NMCD. Not only was the prison overpopulated, but it was severely understaffed. Upon arrival at Old Main in 1988, he began working on filing for an appeal. The central argument is . These details included not just practical things, such as the more secure way they store cell-block keys now, but also softer stuff, all the various programs for prisoners and the like. The New Mexico Department of. While we didn't see any paranormal activity, I do believe I heard a presence walk up behind me just before we headed down a very dark alley. Not only is Allan incredibly knowledgeable about the history of Santa Fe (in general and in terms of paranormal activity), but he was also our pit bull. provide for expanded and improved mental healthcare, visitation rights, personal property allowances, staff training, education and access to legal recourse, among other amenities. In the 80s no one was paying attention. The prison opened in 1956, and closed it's doors for good in 1998. The tour took about two hours. You know the whole Bin Laden complex [from the filmset]? I was playing guitar and singing songs with some fellow inmates.. You must know an offender's first and/or last name or NMCD Number to begin the search process. The tour was fantastic and Allen is a great tour guide and story teller. In the years since its final closure in 1998, the prison has come to occupy a near-celebrity status in New Mexico, engendering its own folklore, In 2013, the prison reopened its doors to the public with a two-hour guided tour, operated by the. And while this rate has declined slightly since 2008, according to an email correspondence with BJS statistician Lauren Glaze, the US still has experienced a 500 percent increase in its prison population over the last 30 years. The Penitentiary of New Mexico Complex is comprised of three facilities: Level-II a minimum-restrict unit, Level-IV/V and Level-VI housing the highest security classification of offenders. Early Saturday morning, fitful negotiations began with some inmate leaders. As the riot escalated, so did the violence. Back at the booking hall, visitors queue up for their personalised mug-shots, faces turned in profile just like in the movies. Though there is a gift shop, "with no ghost stories" [2] doesn't mean that there are no ghosts. The riot started in the early morning of Saturday, Feb. 2, when guards entered dormitory E-2 on the south side of the Prison to do their nightly head counts. The only contact you had was with guards handcuffing you, putting you on dog leashes, beating you, says Chavez, explaining the conditions he faced living in a cell the size of a parking space. He spent the better part of a decade unjustifiably isolated at both Old Main and another supermax, known simply as North. The inmates charged the guards and subdued them quickly. We loved our tour Allen was fantastic knowledgeable in everything Best tour we have ever been on recommend it for everyone. Using the keys that had been taken from the officers, inmates freed fellow prisoners then moved through an open grill gate, which was also unlocked, to the administrative area. Some impatient killers threw flammable liquids into locked cells and ignited them, according to the official report, while other inmates meticulously cutthrough the bars of the E-4 cells with the torches left behind by construction workers. What is the cost for 2 adults and 2 teens? All Major Brands. Other sites of trauma and tragedy should be so lucky to have their stories told so well. By 1980, Old Main was overcrowded, understaffed, sorely lacking in educational and rehabilitation programmes and further plagued by inmate abuse and mistreatment. After booking, Nelson was placed in the E-2 unit, a barracks-style dormitory that, due to construction on more secure cell blocks, according to an. Let us take a moment of silence, said Lucero to the group of tourists, his words lost among the voices of those discussing their next sightseeing destination. Black inmates led the escape from the smoldering building, staying in groups large enough to defend themselves from other inmates. Once there they smashed their way into the main control center and gained access to every part of the main penitentiary building where 1,157 male inmates were under the custody and care of 25 correctional employees. In the new 1956 facility, between the years 1967 and 1970, the population was below capacity and dorm rooms were used as classrooms. (505) 827-8205. The prison is reputedly haunted, with numerous unexplained phenomena, from prison doors opening and closing of their own accord, to ghostly voices and footsteps. By 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 3, 1980, the violence had spent itself; police and National Guardsmen retook the prison without resistance. 2-Hour Photography Class While Touring Downtown Santa Fe, Smart Phones Welcome! The tour took about two hours. Up to 50% OFF. This week on NEW MEXICO IN FOCUS, as the state struggles to emerge from recession, business leaders and economic development experts are pushing for a more aggressive plan on jobs. It led prison administrators to increasingly relying on solitary confinement as a prison management tool. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), on average, 80,000 individuals find themselves locked up in isolation on any given day, with a full 20 percent of the countrys prison population spending time in isolation. 4331 State . Deals of The Week: Get into the Latin groove! Thank you! While some prisoners simply tried to find a safe place to wait out the riot, others banded together to rampage through Old Main, torturing and murdering other inmates. [2][3] It is operated by the New Mexico Corrections Department. At Old Main, Chavez began to experience abuse and threats at the hands of correctional officers, including arbitrary placement in solitary confinement for months and then years three separate terms that lasted more than two years each at a time. Eventually, inmates made 11 basic demands. [8] When the inmates refused to return to their cells, the tower guards opened fire, killing one inmate and injuring five others. The door to the dormitory wasnt locked after the guards entered the room to complete their rounds. [6][8] Beginning in 1903, New Mexico became the first western state to employ prisoners in building highways. Sam [Chavez] never had a write-up for violence the entire 26 years he was there, says Macias, speaking about the years of solitary confinement Chavez was subjected to. haunted prison in the United States, the New Mexico State Penitentiary has the These facilities were designed to house the prisons most disruptive and violent offenders. Get more stories delivered right to your email. He kept us safe and made sure we got back to our car after we heard a gunshot. Self-guided Tours from $20.52 per adult (price varies by group size) Canyon Road Art Tour 38 Walking Tours from $65.00 per adult 2022 New Mexican Flavors Food Tour of the Santa Fe Plaza 173 Private and Luxury from $141.70 per adult 2-Hour Photography Class While Touring Downtown Santa Fe, Smart Phones Welcome! They seized the correction officers keys, which gave them access to most of the prison. For information on group rates for Halloween Nights at Eastern State Penitentiary, visit our Halloween Nights . I was in the wrong prison at the wrong time, says Nelson, now in his 60s. Read more about my investigations at the State Pen to understand why I do not think it is haunted in my book "New Mexico's Most Haunted: Exposed." Main entrance to the State Pen, opened in the 1950s. If you are a resident of another country or region, please select the appropriate version of Tripadvisor for your country or region in the drop-down menu. State Prison. By the time the National Guard retook the prison,33 inmates had been killed at the hands of their counterparts, 200 others were injured or had overdosed, and 12 of the guards had been raped or otherwise brutalised. Unfortunately we were not allowed to video tape or photograph cell block 4 where most of the killings took place. The ghost stories and history of New Mexico's most haunted places are fascinating, but are they really haunted by ghosts? All of our daytime programming . SANTA FE, N.M.- Tickets are now available for upcoming tours of a closed New Mexico prison where one of the nation's deadliest riots took place. Explaining what led to an emphasis on segregation, Haney says that by the late 1970s, politicians and prison policymakers increasingly abandoned the goal of rehabilitating prisoners and adopted a prison punishment for punishments sake policy. This is out of my comfort zone; but something we should be aware of. https://www.cd.nm.gov/old-main-photos/. People remember the riot, says Chavez, speaking to Al Jazeera last summer at a coffee shop near his home in southern New Mexico. I happened to overhear the grownups talking about what went down, and happened to see photos (a family friend, unfortunately for her, was a paralegal with the state attorney generals office and had to deal with all the materials). According to the states corrections department, approximately 16 percent of New Mexicos incarcerated population is housed in some form of solitary confinement, making the state the second-worst in the country according to the ACLU report. For decades ghostly tales have been told across the land of enchantment. The guard on duty fled, leaving behind keys that could open most of the prison gates and doors. First Scout is free of charge (Scouts and tech scouts are limited to 6 hours on first scout. for a location that is believed by many to be the most haunted site in the land Please complete and submit the form below or contact Francine Schiffman (Senior Manager, Group Sales and Events) at fs@easternstate.org to schedule your group tour. Is your tour suitable for children ages 7-14? Find out what each area has to offer. Officers keys, which gave them access to most of the killings took place the from. 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