1980 New Mexico State Penitentiary prison riot - documentary

[RockSmith92]

i think the fact that men were raping men is fucked up, normal rape is horrific let alone gay rape, thats just fucking disturbing, as was everything that happened in that prison. The authorities did a fucking aweful job of containing the situation.

[ITHEREONETHATHASNT]

Really makes you ask yourself what kind of god allows a man to come intot his world to be raped, have his genitals cut off and put in his mouth and then hung. What a horrible way tod ie. I hope these fucks got gangraped and killed themselves.

[robert140602]

the redneck at approx 09:30 lol.Further on,imagine the fear of the grasses and paedophiles as the blow torch did it's work?

Well worth a watch,Dean.

The authorities watched people being blow torched to death !!!

[ghsttwnr13]

I was able to tour the Old Main on Feb. 2 (32 anniversary). What an intriguing place. I just think that what happened there was and is amazing. By 'amazing' - I mean that people could actually do that kind of thing to other people. I guess I just don't have that kind of hate in me.

[vymmas]

Saw this on bbc when it first came out and thought it was one of the best docu's i've ever seen. Fascinating stuff.

[spinnernetfan1]

wow it really seems like cops in the west side are scared to face confrontation i meant when this happened they didnt rush in to help(which your sworn to do when you work in a prison/jail) than in colombine the cops just stood out side when kids were being massacerred i really think standards should be set higher to become a police officer

[vymmas]

@spinnernetfan1 are you serious?? They were specifically told NOT to enter the prison as the inmates were holding guards hostage. It was nothing to do with being afraid.

[spinnernetfan1]

@vymmas ive seen other documentaries where they could of went into PC and save them but they thought they would be ambushed one of the guards on msnbc lockup even said that the PC unit had a backdoor,and all human life is equal and a prison guard really shouldnt care if there actions will affect the 12 hostages if they try and save PC. and a judge must of agreed with that cause many of the PC who were injured were pardoned and recieved a settlement for neglegence.

[ITHEREONETHATHASNT]

@spinnernetfan1 Overpaid pussies. Cops want all sorts of respect here in the west but id ont give it because they are overpaid pussies. They dont do anything.

[diggyu]

@ITHEREONETHATHASNT Well said.

[1skarce]

Rats and pc cases in general got what was due. Inmate 2000-2009

[ITHEREONETHATHASNT]

@1skarce Really the kid that was gang raped? Fuck that only a low life degenerate would think he got justice. He was raped so he wanted them prosecuted so what. Sounds like you need to go back.

[ReclusiveDuck]

The most frightening aspect about this riot is that, sometime, somewhere, the same thing is going to happen again.

[ProtoAlphaDog]

And NOW, you can take a tour of it.

[DarrenBonJovi]

Prick had to wear sunglasses because he couldn't let the interviewer look in his eyes. I assume he died in a fair amount of discomfort himself.

[superanimefan275]

The staff and management of this facility was soooo badly handled that something like this was bound to happen, however this does not excuse some of the prisoners behavior, like the horrors they enacted in cell block 4... truly disturbing btw ...I highly doubt their concious decision to torture, rape, and murder their fellow inmates was brought on by opression. They would have done it whether they were opressed or not. They just found they finally has an opprtunity...

[bob0s062]

From what I have heard from other sources, not talking in this documentary, the conditions that those inmates where living in would get a dog owner thrown in prison if they let their dog live in those conditions.The Santa Fe riot was a powder keg. Administration was a lot at fault, but who wants to admit that?

[romerogypsee1]

i was in 10th grade and living just a mile away from this prison when this happened. i remember the smoke from the building fires. i remember the horrifying possibility of the inmates escaping and coming to my house! i told myself that i would never commit a crime and end up in prison!

[Gel204]

How could you do it,How could you do it,How could you do it? How could you rat some one out and let them do 30 years?

[Gel204]

If you want to rat please watch this video before you do. The prisons would have only a 3rd of the people in there if you rats keeps quiet .

[danielhiryu]

@Gel204 The problem with your theory is that the people out there who are harming innocents and destroying lives would barely go punished.

There's a difference between someone who is trying to save their own ass and someone who has a conscience and wants to help society by getting monsters off the street.

You make it sound like only criminals harm other criminals. No. There are many lives that are shattered because of assholes like some of the people shown in this video.

[Gel204]

@danielhiryu I get your point my remark was aimed at the crims that rat to get out of prison after they have enjoyed there life of crime but don't want the time. I am pretty anti crime because without criminals we would not need the cops.

[danielhiryu]

@Gel204 On that note, I agree. Those assholes who wanna do the crime and not risk the time are the reason the criminal enterprise is in such an downslope.

No matter the business, everyone's getting snitched on.

[michelle4398]

When they are talking about what started the riot, I'm pretty sure they aren't "justifying" it, rather, listing possible causes for it. Of course rampant killing is not justified, however, that doesn't mean people should be treated as animals. Any time you house dangerous individuals together, especially in the dormitory like setting, there is no control. I hope that since then, we have learned that we cannot afford to run prisons in this manner.

[valenz20]

Excllent documetary

[strangefacekid]

28:26 = PARTY TIME 

[TheChronicMasta]

whats the country song playing through out the documentary?

[consuelo0729]

@TheChronicMasta it is called Down the Road by Steve Earle = )

[xAlexPh]

@TheChronicMasta down the road by steve earle

[937738]

If you treat them like rats, you will "get" rats >:\

[Robertt1018]

best documentary on the nm riot of 1980

[joe627alb]

this is the BEST...BEST...doc about the NM state pen riot in FEB 2-3 1980....33 inmates killed...but more like 55+ (how can you account for bodies burned, dismembered, mutilated, etc)......great to watch......anyone who knows of ANYONE involved in this event; either "inmate or offical" let me know......GREAT WATCH!!!!!!!!!!......read the book THE DEVILS BUTCHER SHOP by ROGER MORRIS details more accounts of this horrific event.....AFTER reading the book..........................­..............DAMN

[emwazsun]

Do not call them animals, that's a compliment, they are much worse..

[1andymacd]

what aload ov animal's, but all peedo's deserve too die!

[AndrewLoftus]

Excellent documentary! Most detailed info I've ever gotten from this incident along with The Devil's Butcher Shop book by Roger Morris.

[TBAKC]

I felt like I was being watched the whole time and knowing we were the only ones there. Freaked me out bad.

[TBAKC]

Me and a friend went to the old NM penitentiary and it is haunted. I didnt realize until after I got out that I was in the cell where a inmate was burned to death. We had flash lights an we noticed a darker spot in front on the cell. But before I new what happened I didnt think much of it. I caught an evp in that cell saying "I was killed" The two of us saw what looked like shadows in front of us, banging,screams, and we heard running footsteps.

[strangefacekid]

@TBAKC

And then you woke up late for school...

[TBAKC]

@strangefacekid LMFAO

[TBAKC]

This is sad. I read that prison guards were beatin and raped. Some inmates I heard protected some guards, if thats true then its good some inmates aren't all bad, I could care less about child molesters and rapists.

[TeRBoozooka]

...Just...disgusting.

[dianalee84]

What a well made documentry,thank you for uploading.it for us to watch. Seth Morgans book 'Homeboy' has a prison riot that's a complete copy of the N.M riot,from the snitch jackets to the blow torches,it's a great book. Does anyone know if any prisoners were prosecuted for the murders during the riot?I can't imagine the the terror those poor bastards must've felt,waiting for there cell doors to be burnt open.Poor bastards.

[lennymo36]

damn thats messed up.. they turned into savages

[CarlosMacMartin]

FYI for anyone interested.There's a newspaper archive available online with the list of inmates who where survivors after the riot.However,some on the yard refused to identify themselves.

[kegler280]

@CarlosMacMartin Do you know of a list of the names of the inmates that were killed? I think someone that I knew was among those that were killed and have been trying to find out. Thanks.

[CarlosMacMartin]

@kegler280 I didn't look but if there's a list of the survivors then there should be a list of the deceased.

[BannedName416]

phenomenal upload

[CarlosMacMartin]

SCARY! SCARY! SCARY! One of my dad's childhood friends was locked up there when the riot

went down.He made it out unharmed!

[TheChronicMasta]

@CarlosMacMartin He probably wasn't a snitch or a pedophile.

[TheChronicMasta]

@CarlosMacMartin I said wasn't

[CarlosMacMartin]

@TheChronicMasta I know.Just sharing some info about the guy.

[rayjr62]

Tinderbox was the one word that best described the New Mexico station prison system in the mid to late 1970s. Hindsight is always 20/20, but what happened on Feb. 2, 1980 was an excellent example of what happens when you are not pro-active. For the life of me, and when you consider the conditions for the inmates of this particular prison, I do not understand why the authorities and the powers that be in New Mexico did not see this riot coming down the pike.

[johnbear4444]

The states answer was to build a huge penitentiary. The idea was to transfer inmates from other states to fill it but those states made thier own pens. Now they can't pay the cost of building it because the government gives a certain amount for each inmate. The result, poor healthcare,non-nutritional meals, and insuffecient staffing. To pay the bills petty criminals are being added to the mix. If you ask me, it won't be to much longer before this happens again.

[Gnarcakez]

This event in history was horrifying I could only imagine. My uncle was there. I'm happy he's alive unlike some of these other people who weren't so lucky.

[olemog16]

Thanks for converting and uploading this - one of the scariest things I have seen in my adult life, and which haunted the summer of 2000 when it was broadcast.

[dianalee84]

I think the prison riot in Seth Morgans brilliant book 'Homeboy' is based on this riot. It's an amazing book. Nobody deserves to be tortured to death.

[JustAintthatWay]

recall watching another doc about this nightmare

2 convicts were being interviewed in the mess hall

the one said 'you either like someone or you dont

if you do you find a reason to cut them slack if you dont

you find a reason not to'

this was 30 years ago now but ive always remembered that line

it's one of the truest things ive ever heard

[punkyhiphopdood]

@JustAintthatWay It really is. It proves you don't need a fancy education to be perceptive about human nature. In fact, I reckon long serving prisoners know more about people than a lot of "experts" do. I mean, when you're locked up all you have is other people. Strangers. I bet you learn a hell of a lot about human beings when you're banged up. We're a bloody horrible species at our worst so I doubt it's an enjoyable thing.

[Fairforafool]

I doubt everyone, guards and inmates alike, deserved the violence that came their way through all of this.

[punkyhiphopdood]

Anyone that thinks the brutality carried out by these monsters was justified is a sick individual. I read the hate factory. That ginger cunt and the twat in the sunglasses have hell to look forward to now.

[dianalee84]

@punkyhiphopdood Try Seth Morgans book 'Homeboy' if you liked the Hate Factory, it's a great book,

[5green0eyez5]

I personally know and knew some ppl that were in this riot, they told me some crazy CRAzy stuff, AWful stuff!!!

[26wordy]

fuck that dick in the sunglasses, hope he's dead.

[26wordy]

DR marc orner was a fool too.

[26wordy]

20YearsAndAWakeup yeah him man, that guard they called greeneyes did all sorts to the prisoners, he was the one who was most brutal according to info in the book the hate factory.

[26wordy]

Benito Gonzales - green eyes. we hardly ever used violence. Reading the hate factory I cant believe this guy, he sounds like the worst monster ever he was a leiutenant but he looks like a piece of spick shit.

[20YearsAndAWakeup]

Guard: "One sangwhich a day.. Er, I mean, one sangwhich for each meal."

[tomasgarciaz]

They should have locked the doors while doing there rounds. This whole thing could have been prevented if it weren't for bad planning and decision-making by penitentiary administration. They shouldn't have moved the high-risk inmates into dormitories in the first place. I can't believe they only had 12 staff on duty that night.

[Mr505KING]

haters get the fuck out this video if you don't like it nobody told you to watch it dam!

[TH3ANIMALMOTHER]

That guy with the shades is a fucking psycho

[yaqui707]

SYSTEM IS TO BLAME . A MAN CAN TAKE SO MUCH WERE NOT GOD . PUNK POLICE DO YOU JOB AND STOP TRYING TO

TO BE TOUGH , MOST POLICE ARE FAGS ANYWAY THEY GOT BEAT UP IN SCHOOL BACK IN THE DAY . THEN THEY TRY TO GO BACK TO THE HOOD AND ACT LIKE GANGTERS . MOST PUNK POLICE DON'T EVEN LIVE IN THE TOWN THEY WORK IN CUZ THEY KNOW IF YOU CATCH THEM SLIPPING PAYBACKS A  BITCH . FUCK THE POLICE .

[LordKaisen]

@yaqui707 already lost man, i know plenty of good folks who become police to maintain the peace. they're not just gonna stand around and watch some thugs run the show. I'd let them beat the thugs senseless with a billy.

[yaqui707]

@LordKaisen all cops are brain wash sheeps, im mexican and i give a fuck about mexican, blacks white ,asian ,russia cops .thier all the same thier program robots, its like the goverment engrave a chip in thier head . maybe 1 out of 100 are ok but the rest are brain wash slaves. you better school your kids becuz theses are the people that will be his enemy in the future .the punk people is a inner city army .

[rowin09]

what the fuck took the swat team so long...!!! they could have prevented this shit!

[soprisrb]

Look, I have very little sympathy for murderers and rapists and I'd call myself anything but a liberal. That said, if the state takes the rights of someone, they have a fiduciary responsibility to ensure their safety. If someone is in prison, the state HAS TO protect them.

[mongoosesvd]

That's pretty screwed up.

[mhia4]

What a place to be. I can't even imagine. It's Lord of the Flies in there.

[brandontimm1001]

To the greedy scum whom implemented prison system's like this and the one I experienced , I hope your loved ones including children are brutally raped tortured and contract AIDS or a foul form of cancer. If you were eaten alive by starved rats I would not lift a finger to help you. I literally hope you are raped and tortured.

[CJECJECJE]

Wow! I just came across this documentary today. My father was Chairman of the Corrections Commission during this time. It was truly horrific; I will never forget it.

[lavagroove]

I watched this documentary when it was first shown maybe 9 or 10 years ago and I NEVER ever forgot it. It is a truly shocking documentary detailing the savagery displayed by supposedly civilised human beings towards their own kind.

Many thanks Whirlytunes for uploading.

[kann94]

True, They had no right to do what they did. But the unit who was standing outside the fence of that prison are just as sick as they are, They knew what was going on inside, But they didn't care as long as there precious guards weren't touched. Maybe some of those inmates were sick and twisted, But i can tell you right now some of them had more respect for people then what those guards did

[Nightdemonn]

I'm at 15:32 second right now and this is wrong there is no way they should've been able to get away with an offense such as placing the "Snitch" jacket on someone and be allowed to get away with it especially since they are so OPEN about it.

That's the same thing as beating someone until they confess to kidnapping The Lindbergh baby. For all they know someone could know nothing and they'd be like "So yea if u don't telll me what i want to know your going to be killed in your sleep"

[IdunCareLesSn00b]

Benito Gonzales the face of a liar

[MrTheEvilgerman]

Was Attika before or after this ?

[MikeMunday222]

@MrTheEvilgerman before. attica was 1971

[bl51315]

@MrTheEvilgerman attica was before

[LVEMEDO]

TY so much for posting this I had been looking for this for a long time much appreciated

[julingy]

39:00 ... ohhh nooo, you got abused? well tough shit, these guys murdered and raped all ages races and sexes. and then they spend the rest of their lives leeching society.... if these people were dealt with with a bullet we would be able to feed, cloth and provide education for a 1/4 BILLION children

[julingy]

@julingy it is too bad about all the minor offenders though...

[jestavonation]

@julingy ya its wrong

[tydy73]

America has to many extremes and is brutal, and what makes it even worse, you then go around the world policing so called less civilized nations!

I have been to prison and men don't dare commit sex acts on each other or rape one another it's not the done thing in UK. It's frowned upon big time and not excepted in the UK's prison culture, or at least was when i was there. It turns my stomach every time i hear how much it is excepted as part of prison culture in the US!

[simontrowell]

@tydy73 Yeah it's a class thing in US prison,black majority of inmates put in the slammer by white rules and white judges-in there they rule the roost and rape white men,like you say it's terrible in the US.

Take it easy.

[jestavonation]

will turn on you. Oh ya there were twelve guards that night.

[jestavonation]

now that was the start of how the guards fucked up, next your still being a hard ass well then I ask the Captain to transfer you to the chicano pod, why because in there you will be raped and me as the guard would bring the local homies a treate be it weed,alcohol,coke,or (chiva) heroin.Now for heroin more than likely you will die because I can't bring in enough for all so there is going to be problems. So if an inmate ends up in (pc) c.b. 4 you were automatticaly marked you as a rata or rat.

[jestavonation]

of herself along with a child maybe your child ok. Now i've got her address and your being a hard ass. Well I take you aside and tell you I met your wife yesterday told her your doing well, and yes me the guard I did go all the way out to meet her,not to have sex but you don't know that, so all i need to show you is something familiar a picture or tell the names of people I shouldnt even know of( and mind you some guards did have affairs with the inmates wife and or girlfriends) -over-

[patsyd80]

Love it when you find these docs on one whole film and not in ten min pieces. Thanks for putting up and greetings from london.

[Mr505KING]

it was the guards fualt thats my impineon

[napalm940]

99% extreme boredom with 1% sheer terror.Just as the convicts have their psychos,so do the guards.

[MultiVicegrip]

There must have been another way other than putting the dangerous ones with the general population why even take that risk?

[sgtwilliams123]

So I guess what all you who say we're too hard on the inmates are saying is we should let them do whatever they want, whenever they want with no consequences. If you have never worked in a prison around these type of people, you don't know what you're talking about. The stories of officer brutality are greatly exaggerated. I've heard this from inmates who were there.

[hudfadz]

I would frikken hate to be locked up in america, fuck that, i love australia

[93RTW]

god i carnt imagine wat the ppl in cell block 4 wer thinkin wen the other inmates wer cutting threw the bars to execute thm

[hudfadz]

@93RTW

They were thinking ''I hope there is life after death''

[93RTW]

@hudfadz true true 

[jestavonation]

@93RTW more like God, Imagine thats where they kept the rats and baby rapers

[93RTW]

@jestavonation 1 of the inmates was raped 7 seven times he was scared and just wanted protection because he was going to testify against them they put him in cell block 4 he was hung and his balls cut off and shoved in his mouth now fair enough if it was a baby raper they blow torched a guys head off now thats what they should have done to the baby rapers they probaly got even worse things then that I wish britain had execution squads for the baby rapers and child killers

[jestavonation]

@93RTW Ya, I've read The devils Butcher Shop to and ya my uncle was in that fuckin place, and ya my Dad shot some fool trying to escape in 1974 "ya he was a guard" but he was also from the barrio west side. The Riveras warned him shit was gonna go down so he quit, he also told me things that books and television won' t tell you, like the mail that came in (for them) is used against the inmates, how you might ask,well lets say your an inmate, i'm the guard, she sends you some pictures-over-

[93RTW]

@jestavonation They said summit about the guards pushing inmates down the stairs did your dad take part in that ? oh and your dad had a lucky escape then because the inmates had some sick stuff planned for the guards but lucky for them the inmates decided to let the guards go free

I still carnt believe they had only 2 guards watching all those cons I mean they was just asking to get held hostage idiots

[jestavonation]

@jestavonation He may have done that? He's passed since and yes he was guilty of using cruel and fucked up punishment but it was all about who they felt needed correction. Lets say my pops was doing rounds and an inmate splashes him with piss and shit and broken up glass, you can't wipe it off or you will get a disease. So the inmate will pay bigtime, my pops new who would rape you and he told me he had to send the motherfuker to his rape! I said why? He said he had to or the other guards ~over~

[szmatyzjebane]

@93RTW ahhahah thats what u get for snitching

[shauniegayle]

when was the documentary made/ I just finished "The Hate Factory" excellent book!!

[daved1974]

I started work as a correctional officer for Virginia Department of Corrections back in the year 2000 and during Correctional officer training, i remember watching a video very similar to this called "death in a southwest prison" i believe it was an ABC miniseries or something like that if anyone can obtain that video and display that on here i would appriciate it very much for some reason i find this particular uprising rather facinating

[Mr505KING]

i dont blame the prisoners strating a riot if the guards didnt abuse them and treat them like a piece of shit there wouldnt be a riot thats why never tease a dog or abuse it becuse you never know it might get luose one day and bight you on the ass

[dukecityvilian]

that was the greatest day in new mexico history,, my brother was a inmate n all who died deserved to die ... should be made a holiday...the gaurds deserved to get raped..

[RyanD738]

@dukecityvilian Nobody that died in that riot deserved to die. If anyone deserved anything it was the inmates who did the killing. Justice was never served and it's a black eye in NM history. Your comments are disgusting and appalling. You are not exempt from death as you too will die someday because no man can live forever.

[kishaba1980]

@RyanD738 I beg to differ, they attacked the PC unit full of snitches and rapos

[commodore64n1984]

@RyanD738 You god damn retarded nut sack.Any correction officer who got it in that riot just fucking got it.I mean were you watching this or fingering your pussy when they describied how the correction officers were forcing people to become snitches by the threat of branding them snitches essentially issueing them a death warrant.So what happen then.now your a snitch sitting in protective custody for no fucking reason other than just wanting to live and then they were tortured to death by themob

[danielhiryu]

@dukecityvilian So... let me get this straight.

One of the people in the PC unit was a SHOPLIFTER who ended up in a penitentiary. A PENITENTIARY! He get GANG-RAPED, goes to the officers and does the right thing... he tells them he's been abused.

What happens? He gets his throat slit, his genitals cut off and shoved in his mouth.

Another inmate had the mental capacity of a 12 year old... he gets decapitated.

So who believes everyone that got killed deserved it?

[mralec1010]

i know a man who was a prison guard in nothern new mexico at the time. and he told me that 3 guards commited suicide. 2 are in mental hospitals. and he doesn't know about the rest. but the things they must have done to these guards to take there lives makes you wonder. :/

[nerve]

@basille999, Hell yeah. Fuckin shoot these low life, wasting our fuckin taxes

[FallusInferior]

Seen this documentary years ago on the BBC, forgot a lot of it. But the blowtorch kill really haunted my head for all those years. I hope it was a child molester.

[Kingdoc1976]

He was a snitch.

[GeorginaO89]

Wow who knew that pentary was bad enough!

[x2takeastand]

I know someone who was there and he said he saw the devil in the halls that night.

[Thrashard92]

does anyone know of any other documentaries like this produced by the BBC or HBO? I've seen "Thug Life In DC" and some other documentary about Riker's Island I believe was produced by HBO. thanks.

[skillz30s]

yup

[toddy592]

its simple psychology. if you treat people like wild animals, they will act like them!

[TheChaucer12]

@toddy592

These people were probably already 'wild animals' long before they got to prison. Sociopathic behavior is usually ingrained before the age of 10.

[kishaba1980]

@toddy592 i think they were acting like that on the outside...hence getting locked up....most convicted of murder, robbery, and other violent crimes.... this isn't county jail with all the little DUIs, marijuana possessions and such.... this is the state pen.