Chapter 33 — Chapter 33

Sections 33-1-1 through 33-1-9 NMSA 1978 may be cited as the "Corrections Act." History: 1953 Comp., § 42-9-1, enacted by Laws 1969, ch. 226, § 1; 1971, ch. 221, § 1.

A. Correctional officers of the corrections department, or any employee of the corrections department who has at the particular time the principal duty to hold in custody or supervise any person accused or convicted of a criminal offense or placed in the legal custody or supervis…

Members of the corrections department correctional officer force, excluding correctional specialists, shall: A. at the time of their appointment, be citizens of the United States; B. at the time of their appointment, have reached age of majority; C. have at least a high school ed…

Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 10-7-4 NMSA 1978 and in addition to all other benefits provided adult correctional officers and correctional officer specialists, the corrections department shall provide life insurance coverage in the amount of twenty- five thousand doll…

A. The corrections department may contract for the operation of any adult female facility or for housing adult female inmates in a private facility with a person or entity in the business of providing correctional or jail services to government entities. B. The corrections depart…

There are created in the state treasury special funds to be known as the "corrections department building fund", the "Guadalupe county prison fund" and the "New Mexico prison fund". The funds shall consist of money appropriated by the legislature, from year to year, from the inco…

A. The funds created in or pursuant to Section 33-1-18 NMSA 1978 shall be used by the corrections department or the board of finance for the purpose of acquiring, designing, constructing or equipping, by lease or lease-purchase, or by financing the ownership by the corrections de…

As used in the Corrections Act: A. "division" or "department" means the corrections department; B. "director" or "secretary" means the secretary of corrections; C. "corrections facility" means any facility or program controlled or operated by the state or any of its agencies or d…

Division transfers are specifically authorized for the administrative services division and the personnel and training division of the corrections department for purposes necessitated by the provisions of Sections 1 and 2 [33-1-18, 33-1-19 NMSA 1978] of this act. Such transfers s…

unused prescriptions; conditions of acceptance and redispensing. A. A pharmacy operated by the corrections department or under contract with the department shall accept for the purpose of redispensing a prescription drug that has been dispensed and has left the control of the pha…

A. A correctional facility shall ensure that each inmate of that correctional facility is screened for mental illness and for habitual substance abuse within thirty days of incarceration in that facility. B. A correctional facility shall offer a qualifying inmate the opportunity …

A. By January 1, 2020, every correctional facility that houses female inmates shall develop and implement a breastfeeding and lactation policy for lactating female inmates that is based on current accepted best practices. The policy shall include provisions for: (1) human milk ex…

It is the purpose of the legislature to create a single, unified corrections department to administer all laws and exercise all functions formerly administered and exercised by the penitentiary of New Mexico and the state board of probation and parole except to the extent delegat…

History: 1953 Comp., § 42-9-4, enacted by Laws 1969, ch. 226, § 4; 1971, ch. 221, § 4; 1977, ch. 257, § 99; repealed by Laws 2005, ch. 23, § 7.

A. The corrections department may develop and implement a special program for certain male and female offenders who have been identified by the department as being vulnerable offenders who, if not provided with a special program, would be vulnerable to victimization by inmates an…

A. An adult or juvenile correctional facility, detention center or local jail shall use the least restrictive restraints necessary when the facility has actual or constructive knowledge that an inmate is in the second or third trimester of pregnancy. No restraints of any kind sha…

The administrative head of the division is the "director of corrections" who shall be employed by the secretary of the criminal justice department [secretary of corrections] to serve at the pleasure of the secretary of the criminal justice department [secretary of corrections]. T…

The secretary of corrections and criminal rehabilitation [secretary of corrections] shall: A. employ administrative, professional and clerical personnel in accordance with the Personnel Act [Chapter 10, Article 9 NMSA 1978] as necessary to carry out the work of the corrections an…

Wherever, under any statute which was administered or enforced prior to July 1, 1969, by the penitentiary of New Mexico board, the state board of probation and parole or by the boards of the New Mexico boys' school or the girls' welfare home or by the juvenile probation services …

Property or funds held in trust or earmarked for use by a specific correctional facility shall be kept for that use. History: 1953 Comp., § 42-9-10, enacted by Laws 1971, ch. 221, § 10.

The Corrections Act shall be liberally construed to carry out its purposes. History: 1953 Comp., § 42-9-11, enacted by Laws 1969, ch. 226, § 11.

The facilities management division of the general services department is authorized to lease a portion of the real property of the state on which a correctional facility is located, but not to include Grants, New Mexico, for a period not to exceed twenty-five years, to a private …

facilities management division; sublease to correctional officers and others. In connection with and as part of the real property lease authorized in Section 33- 1A-1 NMSA 1978, the facilities management division of the general services department is authorized to negotiate and e…

fund established. The facilities management division of the general services department shall establish a schedule of sublease rental fees for the low-rent housing units constructed pursuant to Chapter 33, Article 1A NMSA 1978. Sublease rental fee payments shall be paid to the ge…

A. Upon expiration of the long-term housing lease, the low-rent housing units constructed pursuant to Chapter 33, Article 1A NMSA 1978 shall become the exclusive property of the state, free of any encumbrances of any kind arising from the construction or leasing of the housing un…

No lease of low-rent housing units constructed pursuant to Chapter 33, Article 1A NMSA 1978 shall be binding against the facilities management division of the general services department until it has been approved by the state board of finance. History: Laws 1983, ch. 186, § 5; 2…

The corrections division [corrections department] shall adopt such rules concerning all prisoners committed to the penitentiary as shall best accomplish their confinement and rehabilitation. History: 1953 Comp., § 42-1-1.1, enacted by Laws 1955, ch. 149, § 1; 1977, ch. 257, § 62.

The corrections division [corrections department] shall make such rules and regulations for the government, discipline and police of the penitentiary, and for the punishment of the prisoners confined therein, not inconsistent with the law, as it may deem expedient, and until such…

A. The corrections department has the power and the duty to examine and inquire into all matters connected with the government, discipline and police of the corrections facilities and the punishment and treatment of the prisoners; the department, shall inspect the corrections fac…

The following persons are authorized to visit the penitentiary at pleasure: the governor, judges of the supreme court and the secretary of the criminal justice department [corrections department] or his duly authorized representative; and no other persons shall be permitted to go…

The secretary of corrections may promulgate rules and regulations providing for family visits between minimum or medium security inmates confined at state correctional facilities and their families. As used in this section: A. "family" means the inmate's legal spouse, natural par…

registered nurse or certified nurse-midwife working within that person's scope of practice; rules; prisoner's disability; records. A physician or a physician assistant, advanced practice registered nurse or certified nurse-midwife working within that person's scope of practice, w…

The corrections division [corrections department] shall take precaution to protect the penitentiary and all property connected therewith against fire, as far as possible, and shall procure such conveniences and the standards and inspection bureau shall prescribe such rules as wil…

The employees of the penitentiary shall perform such duties in the charge and oversight of the penitentiary, care of the property belonging thereto, and in the custody, government, employment and discipline of the convicts as shall be required of them by the corrections division …

improvement or deterioration record.] When any prisoner shall be received into said penitentiary, the superintendent [warden] shall cause to be entered into a register the date of such admission, the name, age, nativity, nationality, with such other facts as can be ascertained of…

The superintendent [warden] shall keep, or cause to be kept, in suitable books, regular and complete accounts of all income, business and concerns of the penitentiary, a true account of all money received for labor, or from other sources, and shall turn over said moneys to the st…

The superintendent [warden] shall collect all moneys due to the penitentiary, except appropriations from the state, and shall pay the same over to the state treasury, to be placed to the credit of the penitentiary convicts' earning fund, taking a receipt for the same. History: La…

Convicts sentenced to the corrections department for life or any term for which they may be confined in a corrections facility by any court having jurisdiction to try causes under the laws of the United States, held within this state, shall be received into the corrections facili…

constitution as a beneficiary; rights and titles.] The penitentiary of New Mexico as herein established as a body politic and corporate, is hereby declared to be the same institution enumerated in Section 1 of Article XIV of the constitution of New Mexico, and the same institutio…

The corrections and criminal rehabilitation department [corrections department] may, by appropriate rules and regulations, establish and administer a plan for the payment of prisoners who perform useful services as prison labor. The payment shall be at a rate depending on the ski…

In case of any pestilence or contagious sickness breaking out among the convicts, the corrections division [corrections department] may cause the convicts confined therein or any of them to be removed to some suitable place of security where such of them as may be sick shall rece…

That nothing in this act contained is intended to alter or in any manner affect the validity of the commitment, imprisonment, parole or discharge of any and all prisoners now confined in said penitentiary, or in any way to alter the rules and regulations thereof, except as herein…

killing justified.] If a convict sentenced to the penitentiary resist the authority of any officer, or refuse to obey his lawful commands, it shall be the duty of such officer immediately to enforce obedience by the use of such weapons or other aid as may be effectual, and if in …

or killing justified.] It shall be the duty of all the officers and other citizens of the state, by every means in their power, to suppress any insurrection, mutiny or disorder among convicts sentenced to the penitentiary and to prevent the escape or rescue of any such convicts t…

It shall be the duty of the warden to keep a record book of all infractions of prison rules and regulations prescribed by the corrections division [corrections department]. History: Laws 1889, ch. 76, § 51; C.L. 1897, § 3540; Code 1915, § 5068; C.S. 1929, § 130-151; 1941 Comp., §…

ANNOTATIONS Repeals. — Laws 1977, ch. 216, § 17, repealed 42-1-54, 1953 Comp. (33-2-33 NMSA 1978), relating to deduction from sentence for good behavior, effective July 1, 1979. For provisions of the present Criminal Sentencing Act, see 31-18-12 NMSA 1978 et seq.

A. A prisoner confined in a correctional facility designated by the corrections department may lose earned meritorious deductions if the prisoner fails to actively participate in programs recommended for the prisoner by the classification supervisor and approved by the warden or …

back; escapers and revolters excepted.] The provisions of this article shall apply to convicts in the penitentiary, excepting such convicts as have escaped from the penitentiary, or been concerned in any revolt whereby any convict has escaped, and shall operate back to the commen…

A. Meritorious deductions earned by a prisoner may be forfeited in an amount up to ninety days for two or more misconduct violations. Meritorious deductions earned by a prisoner may be forfeited in an amount in excess of ninety days for a major conduct violation. Forfeitures of m…

A. Meritorious deductions forfeited pursuant to Section 33-2-36 NMSA 1978 may be restored in whole or in part to a prisoner who is exemplary in conduct and work performance for a period of not less than six months following the date of forfeiture. Meritorious deductions may be re…