Inmate hurt in 2017 prison riot gets $200K

NM private prison operator had been accused of negligence

SANTA FE — A prison inmate who survived having his throat slashed in a 2017 cellblock riot has reached a financial settlement with the state of New Mexico to resolve accusations of negligence against a private prison operator and the state Corrections Department, records show.

Settlement documents posted on a state clearinghouse website this week show that Samuel A. Sanchez has been awarded $200,000 to settle demands related to pain and suffering, and allegations of negligence in the hiring, supervision and training of a prison guard.

In the aftermath of the events at Northeast New Mexico Correctional Facility in Clayton, the state took over direct operations of the 625-bed facility from the private contractor GEO Group in 2019. The company cited difficulties in recruiting and retaining workers in its decision to end its contract.

Attorneys for Sanchez could not immediately be reached Friday.

The settlement resolves all allegations in the lawsuit against the agency, GEO Group and affiliated personnel, Corrections Department spokesman Eric Harrison said. The agency had no further comment.

In his lawsuit, Sanchez accused the GEO Group and the Corrections Department of negligence after a convicted serial killer persuaded a lone, 22-year-old prison guard to open a cell door, setting off chaos in a 40-inmate cellblock. The lawsuit cited inadequate staffing across the facility.

Sanchez was set upon by two other inmates who slit his neck. He was hospitalized and eventually recovered.

Prosecutors initially filed criminal charges of assisting in an escape against the prison guard who opened the cell door for Clifton Bloomfield, a convicted murderer sentenced in connection with five killings in Albuquerque. Authorities said the guard was overpowered and Bloomfield used keys to release other inmates who overran the cellblock.

The charges were later dropped in negotiations after the guard alleged in his own lawsuit that he was made a scapegoat after being placed alone in a cellblock for hardened, dangerous criminals without proper training or certification.

The Corrections Department wound down contracts with the GEO Group and took over direct management of the

Clayton prison in November 2019, during the first year of the administration of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.

The agency has cited opportunities to provide more programing and vocational training to inmates.

Lujan Grisham’s administration has taken a cautious approach to scaling back reliance on privately operated prisons when economically feasible, opposing legislation this year that would make it unlawful for the state and local governments to sign contracts with the private sector to operate prisons and jails.