Johnson opposes independent study of private prisons

SANTA FE (AP) - Gov. Gary Johnson opposes having an independent study of private prison operations in New Mexico, which have experienced a rash of killings and riots in the past year.

However, Attorney General Patricia Madrid vowed Thursday to move ahead and seek a prison study by an outside group despite Johnson's objections.

The stabbing death of a guard and riot this week at the privately operated Guadalupe County Correctional Facility led to calls from Madrid and others for a prison study.

But Johnson doesn't see the need for an outside review of the operations of private prisons, according to the Republican governor's spokeswoman, Diane Kinderwater.

The Public Safety and Corrections departments are investigating the riot that occurred Tuesday at the private prison near Santa Rosa, and Johnson views that as adequate, Kinderwater said Thursday.

"He (Johnson) is confident and satisfied with that," she said.

But Madrid, a Democrat, will try to seek financing for an independent study of private prisons.

"She will go forward. She feels this is a very serious matter that does need to be looked into," said Sam Thompson, a spokeswoman for Madrid.

Madrid will provide $50,000 out of her office's current budget to help pay for the study by an outside group and will try to get legislative support.

Madrid also is willing to request additional money from the state Board of Finance to help pay for an independent group to conduct the study. Thompson said it's estimated a comprehensive study might cost $200,000.

However, getting an emergency allocation of money from the seven-member Board of Finance might be difficult because its largely under the control of the governor. The board is made up of Johnson, Lt. Gov. Walter Bradley, four people appointed by the governor and state treasurer Michael Montoya, a Democrat.

On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Tim Jennings of Roswell asked Madrid's office to conduct an investigation into the privately operated prisons that house state inmates, including whether there is adequate training of guards and proper security classifications of the inmates.

In June, the New Mexico Council on Crime and Delinquency proposed a study of public and private prisons in New Mexico to report on current conditions and develop recommendations for future operations.

The council suggested a non-partisan, statewide task force be appointed to oversee a prison study by the attorney general. A similar approach was taken after the 1980 riot at the Penitentiary of New Mexico, in which 33 inmates died.

The prison at Santa Rosa is operated by Florida-based Wackenhut Corrections Corp., which has a $25 million-a-year contract to house state inmates in two prisons - at Santa Rosa and at Hobbs.

Five people - four inmates and a guard - have died in Wackenhut-run prisons in New Mexico in the past nine months.

The four inmate killings are more than all of New Mexico's state-run prisons have had in any single year since 1985. In contrast, only two other killings have occurred since 1986 at the more than two dozen prisons Wackenhut runs nationwide.

The killing of the guard was the first in New Mexico since 1987.

The Corrections Department houses about a third of the state's nearly 5,200 male inmates at privately operated prisons - the Wackenhut facilities and a prison near Estancia operated by Tennessee-based Corrections Corp. of America.

Inmates at the two Wackenhut prisons remained locked in their cells Thursday, and other prisons were on a heightened security alert, said Gerges Scott, spokesman for the Corrections Department.

The Johnson administration also had not decided Thursday on what, if any, action to take against inmates or Wackenhut in the wake of the killing and riot at Santa Rosa.

Johnson threatened last week to remove inmates from private prisons in New Mexico if more killings or disturbances occurred. The department had made clear that inmates would be shipped to out-of-state prisons rather than returned to state-run prisons in New Mexico.

The governor has come under criticism from legislators and others for making the threat. Some people have suggested his action could have contributed to the latest prison violence.

Corrections Secretary Rob Perry has said he viewed the killing and riot as an effort by inmates to discredit private prisons in hopes that they might return to state-run prisons.