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| '80 NM Prison Riot Remembered |
| By news-bulletin.com |
| Published: 03/08/2010 |
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Last week's edition of La Historia del Rio Abajo described the causes of the worst prison riot in New Mexico history. Overcrowdedness, appalling conditions, inexperienced guards and perpetual tension had created "a time bomb of human rage ready to explode," in the words of one prison official. The time bomb exploded in the early morning hours of Saturday, Feb. 2, 1980, when inmates overpowered four guards and took another dozen hostage. Within half an hour, the inmates had taken control of the entire prison. Terrible violence ensued in a rampage of inmate versus inmate violence unsurpassed in American history. Several residents of Valencia County were in, or near, the prison when the riot broke out that Saturday morning. Bob White was a caseworker for inmates in cell block 4, where prisoners were held in protective custody and where many inmate killings occurred. Other Valencia County residents were inmates, although few participated in the violence and most escaped into the relative safety of the prison yards. Additional Valencia County residents were drawn into the mayhem by Saturday afternoon. Battery B of the New Mexico National Guard's 3rd Battalion had spent much of that fateful Saturday conducting regular drills at its armory in Belen. Justly proud of their skills, the soldiers of Battery B had recently earned high honors for their proficiency. Their high proficiency might well have been the reason they were called to serve in the current crisis. Kenny Griego, a National Guardsman with nine years of experience by 1980, recalls the moment when his company received orders that it was to proceed to Santa Fe. Not realizing the extent of the trouble that awaited them at the prison, the 94 guardsmen relaxed en route, often joking and kidding one another as their vehicles sped north. Read More. |
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