(dramatic music) (keys jingling) - This is no joke. This is prison. Give the right circumstances,
these inmates will kill you. Alright section three,
right face! - I'm the youngest person
working here. - Yo, I have a name. My job before this, I
was working at Wal-Mart. Just a cart pusher. (laughing) (upbeat dramatic music) - It's certainly been
a rough year. There's been some ups and
downs, I'm still here so... - They will be walking in to some of the most dangerous, most difficult environments a
human being could ever choose to enter voluntarily. - When somebody cross me, I'm gonna play tic
tac toe on their ass. - Organized prison
gangs have wreaked havoc in New Mexico prison system. And We cannot let that
influence continue to grow. - [Officer] Take him
down, take him down! - The pod
that we're going into, that's where we
house all the SNM. All those inmates are
part of that gang. - [Officer] Hey you don't
(beep) tell me to shut up. - These guys conduct hits from inside the prison
onto the streets. - There was a hit on my life. - It was scary 'cause
they're everywhere. - My biggest fear is not
going home to my wife. (shouting) (keys jingling) - You need
to comply with my (beep). - Now, the hardest job on
the planet, just got harder. - Let's go guys,
go up to your unit.. (dramatic music) - Behind these walls, is
a whole different life. - [Officer] Heads up. Killer coming through. - Nuevo Mexico, (beep)
the police. (chuckles) [chanting]
- We are hardcore!
Hardcore! - The potentiality for violence is definitely a real
thing for the COs. - They always have
to watch their back, that's why they wear a vest
when they walk around here. - [Gregg] Most people
would prefer to run when they see danger, but some, who
decide to work here, has to be willing
to run towards it. - You see this right here?
This is what we live for. - All our gang violence here, it's more dangerous
now than ever. - The SNM, they're feared
in this prison system. They're all killers. To be in a gang
like that you've got to like stake somebody or
you've got to like take blood. - I can take your life man,
it wouldn't be nothing. - [Gregg] Sydicato de
Nuevo Mexico has it's roots in the
February 2nd, 1980 riot. The most violent prison riot that ever occurred in our
entire nation's history. - [Reporter] The
rioters got into records, found the names of
prison informers, then the orgy of killing began. - We had a beheading here of one of the inmates. 33 of our inmates died and several of our officers
were brutally assaulted. Following that tragic violent
prison riot we experienced, SNM grew in strength. Despite our best
efforts to contain them, the SNM and their influence
spread throughout our prisons. Now every one of our prisons
experiences a gang influence. (creaking) - Prison gangs are highly
evolving to where the threats are more prevalent now
than they've ever been. (muffled shouting) (upbeat dramatic music) - [Reporter] The Albuquerque
Journal got word that three inmates were plotting to kill secretary
Gregg Marcantel. - I'm gonna look you in the eyes and I'm gonna tell
you something, no threat that's ever been made, no threat that
could be made now, or no threat in the
future is gonna change the resolve of this system. But the reality is that
for our rookie officers are on the front lines, it comes with huge risk
and huge challenge. (dramatic music) - Ever since I can remember, I've always been interested
in law enforcement. When I was a kid I wanted
to be an FBI agent. A lot of people
underestimate me, just 'cause of my size. Even with my whole
family, they see me like, "Are you really doing this? "Can you really do this?" They tease me a lot, but once I show them I'm able to do everything
anybody else can do, they stopped with all of that. I just have to prove myself. - [Leader] One mile. - [Cadets] One mile. - Feeling good.
- [Cadets] Feeling good. - Two miles.
- [Cadets] Two miles. - [Leader] Like we should.
- [Cadets] Like we should. - [Leader] Three miles. - [Cadets] Three miles. - [Leader] Oh yeah.
- [Cadets] Oh yeah. (dramatic music) - Right face! - Ma'am where are your hands? Are you cold? Put your hands out
of your jacket. You understand? - Sir, yes sir. - My first impression of Lilly, she stands 4 foot 9, 5 foot, maybe 100lbs soaking wet. Anybody having second thoughts? You look at somebody like Lilly, and the first thing
you want to think is, she's not going
to do a good job, she's going to get eaten up. Ultimately, I thought
she was going to fail. This is a gut check. If you can't prove to me that you're mentally and
physically tough enough to do this job, you're going home. (cursing) Pull down, what are you doing? Take him down.
(shouting) - Good job. - This is officer Rodriguez, I need medical
assistance and backup. - [Aaron] Okay, good job. - Good work.
(applause) - [Lilly] I think Sgt.
Bell did doubt me, saying how small I was. But just like with anybody
else, I had to prove him wrong. - [Aaron] You'll be
working at Southern, right? - [Lilly] Yes sir. - You know what that is, right? That's gangland. They're going to
try to eat you up. (dramatic music) - The Southern New Mexico
Corrections Facility has been used as a prison to contain and
control gang members. - It's a crew's thang,
baby, call 'em off. - 85% of our inmate
population is gang related. A lot of our inmates have
committed violent crimes while inside the
corrections institutions. With the SNM, they've committed multiple
homicides at this facility. (dramatic music) - A rookie coming in, it's
scary, it can be challenging. - Watch, they're going
to yell right now. Watch, watch. - [Man In Baseball Bat]
It's all the can do. Count! (yelling) (upbeat music) I still get a little nervous,
my mouth gets all dry. When you come to work, you're just not sure
what could happen. A bad day in our office
could mean somebody's life. - [Officer] I bet you I ain't. - [Inmate] I bet you're scared. - [Officer] I bet you,
you're more scared of me than I am of you. (laughing) - [Inmate] What? I'm
already in prison. - Growing up I was a
little bit of a hothead; I would get into
fights on the streets. But back in high school, I got
into a little bit of trouble that could have ended up
me with some jail time. That experience kind of
turned my life around. So, that's why I actually
got into wrestling. Just to keep me off the streets. - [D'Angelo] It's
not the way it works. - [D'Angelo] Yes, I do. I haven't been into
a serious altercation with an inmate yet. If it were to ever happen
I would be prepared for it. Wrestling, jujitsu,
all that stuff, it really boosts your
confidence level. Not really trust anybody here because they are in here
for pretty serious crimes. The majority of these
guys are gang affiliated. Some of these guys will
be good to your face, but still stab you in the back. (dramatic music) (rock music) - I've been here with
him 10 months so far. - We're still
considered rookies, but just kind of a little
more seasoned than most. I do feel like I've
grown as an officer. I've made mistakes here, I've
made a ton of mistakes here. Get the (beep) out of here. - [Inmate] (beep) you. - [Andrew] (beep) you. You ain't hard
(beep), don't blow up. Get off your (beep) phone.
- [Inmate] (beep) you, bitch. - Get off your phone.
- [Inmate] (beep) you, bitch. - Get off your (beeping) phone. But, I've learned from them all. I think I came quite a ways, but there's still quite
a ways for me to go. - I grew up in a
correctional family. My mom here was a sergeant. My father was a
CERT team commander. I mean, It's very
important to me that I've made my family
proud working here. I'm more confident in myself. Recently, I don't
feel like a rookie, but if I get the mindset to
where I think I know everything, that's a day where potentially
someone could get hurt because you're not ready to go. (dramatic music) - Penitentiary of New Mexico is our predatory
management prison. It is where we assign the
very worst of the worst, our most high-risk inmates. - It's the most dangerous spot. We all here amongst
real killers. You know what I'm saying? Psychos. (upbeat dramatic music) - Here at the 6th, the most
violent inmates in the state. All disciplinary
assaults on staff, murders on other
inmates, gang members. When these inmates go off,
they usually go all the way. (dramatic music) - There's a lot of
changes going on where they're letting inmates
come out a little bit more. - We're increasing our use of programming for inmates, trying to advance their
education and training them with some transferable
job skills and we're reducing our
use of segregation knowing that 96% of these people are coming back to
our neighborhoods. Stepping people down
from segregation makes for some very risky, very
difficult circumstances. - Phillip Latham joined
the notorious SNM gang. Phillip Latham is
pretty dangerous, he's assaulted staff, he
has a history of that. He's unpredictable. He'll look completely fine, but he can just go off
in a blink of an eye. - [Cohen] He's gonna
get to come out without being in
handcuffed or anything, he just gets patted down. He was given a chance to
come out on tier time before and as soon as he came out
he began assaulting staff. He's been good I believe
for the past year. So they're giving him a chance. Doubt we'll need these. Let me get these
guys real quick. - You don't know if he's just
going to hang out and watch TV or if he's going to come
out and try to assault you, or stab you or kill you. - We just have to treat
it like everything else, you can't show fear. You've got to not
show you're scared, you just got to walk in
there like it hasn't changed. (creepy dramatic music) (door clicking) - [Cohen] How's
it going Phillip? - Oh yeah. How do you like
being on tier time? - [Phillip] Not used to it. - When you walk around him it makes you a little uneasy. He hasn't been out
in a very long time. Everybody should
be more on our toes 'cause it's getting
more dangerous now. That means more
assaults on staff and you got to worry
about your safety and your other officer's safety. (upbeat rock music) - Class 323. Atten-hut! Today we're starting a
new class, class 323. For most of these individuals, they're 19, 20 years old,
never been in the military. Do you understand me? - [Trainees] Sir, yes, Sir. - Sir, yes, Sir. Do you understand me? - [Trainees] Sir, yes, Sir. - So, it's gonna be a shock, it's gonna be a huge
wake-up call for them. - You rush into somewhere where
you're not supposed to be, you're going to get somebody
hurt or killed or yourself. - [Aaron] Do you understand?
- Sorry, Sir. - Simple directives,
simple directives son. With a heighten gang
activity we have in the state right now, it makes my job
even more difficult to prepare these youngsters. There's sometimes days
where you look at somebody and you think to yourself, you know what this individual
is just not going make it. - My name is Andrew Martinez. I'm 18 years old. I found the
corrections department at a job fair at
Harrison Middle School. Now I'm here. - Cadet Martinez
right now I believe he still lives at
home with mom and dad. So, this is something
brand new for him. When you're positioned
attention, where should you be? - [Andrew] Facing forward sir. - [Aaron] Why are
you looking at me? - No excuses, Sir. - It's solely my responsibility as the Chief Instructor
here to make sure that they're ready
mentally and physically. This class is in a time
of transition within NMCD. Last two officers that have
been killed in the line of duty. A Rio Rancho Officer
and a APD Officer, were both killed by our
clientele, gang members. This shows you just
how willing and able these gang members
are to commit murder. Some of you right now
might be asking yourselves, I don't know if this
is for me or not. It only gets worse from today. - Last call, Jim co. I was getting ready
to go to college, I had a rodeo
scholarship out there, but I was having a
kid, short notice. Left college, applied
here and hit the line. You know, I got to
support my daughter and that's my drive
everyday coming in you know. 16 hours it's for her. It's a lot different than
anything else I've done. (upbeat music) I've been involved in Rodeo
since I was three years old. It was always a love for me, it was always something
I wanted to pursue. Honestly, I never see
myself in a prison, but I felt like my daughter
definitely needed more than what rodeo was
gonna offer her. I worked a lot of labor
jobs, bucking hay, certain things like that. This one, the stress
here at Western's, a little different you know. (dramatic music) - Western New Mexico
Correctional facilities, one of our smaller
prison facilities, but it does hold our level
three types of inmates. Folks who are likely spend the rest of their
lives in prison. Level three is like your lifers, a little more
violent type inmate. - You (beep) from H-town homeboy - Some of us do
fight yeah, you know. We're all men here. - I'm doing
two life sentences, I've got nothing to lose. If you take me out
you're doing me a favor. - In Level three when
someone's a lifer and they don't care about
picking up new charges, you're going to see a lot
more weapons used, shanks. - You will
always defend yourself at any point in
prison regardless of if it's a cop or an inmate. - [Christian] I didn't
hear it get called. - I do pay attention. - 10-4, did you guys call yard? - Yard call. (yelling) Unit 4 is one of the more
hectic units at the facility. A lot of irate inmates in there. With the movement from here you
know they're not restrained, just a simple
escort by an officer as well as a clearance
from the tower. Hopefully nothing
goes off today. (dramatic music) - [D'Angelo] Hey, let's clear
the corridor guys, come on. - The rookies are
trying to coming in and make a difference
like they're superman. - [D'Angelo] Cut it out,
go back to your dorms. - The rookies, the new guys
they wanna pop their chests out and walk around
like they're bad, they wanna have
something to prove. There's being disrespectful and
then there's doing your job. There's being a man
a CO or whatever and there's being a [beep]. - Right now the up and
coming is the Burquenos. Their numbers are growing,
they're constantly recruiting. A lot of people automatically
assume that you're leadership are the most dangerous ones
you have to watch out for, when in reality it's
your lower gang member who is trying to build
that name for himself so he can work the ranks. Those are the most volatile,
dangerous inmates you have. - Hey, clear that doorway. Inmate Meraz and all
his little friends, they've just been
messing around all day. Gentlemen, head towards a door, get back to your dorms if
you ain't using the restroom. Getting under our
skin a little bit. - Take it. - [D'Angelo] Let's go,
clear that doorway. - At least you know that's
why you're in your pod. - [D'Angelo] Now, I am
going to write you up. -
You're going to have to fricken' write him up for-- - [D'Angelo] Hey. - [Officer In Hat] You
have to write him up, dude. He keeps ficken' horse playing. - Rookie officers,
they don't understand the way the gangs think or how they operate
on a day-to-day basis. 'Cause they're going to test
him they're going to taunt him, they know he's green. - I'm going to pull Meraz
out Roy, he's pissing me off. Not your sidekick, just you. Let's go to the corridor. What's your problem bro? - (chuckles) What do you
mean what's my problem? - Why you acting like that? You need to check your attitude. You don't do this everyday. - You don't do
this shit everyday. - [D'Angelo] You want me
to check your attitude? - [D'Angelo] Do you want me to
write you up on some (beep)? - [D'Angelo] All right. - I am going to do my job. How are you gonna-- - You better stop back. - You better stop. - You better step back. - [Gregory] You
pulling me out here-- - [D'Angelo] Cuff up, cuff up! - [D'Angelo] Cuff up, cuff up! - [D'Angelo] Cuff! - [D'Angelo] Cuff up, cuff up! - [Officer] Stop resisting. - [D'Angelo] He keeps
resisting, drop his ass. - [Officer On Left] Let's go.
- I got him bro. That's actually the first time I've ever had an
altercation with an inmate. So yeah, I mean I was
getting a little worked up 'cause I didn't really know
how I was going to react 'cause I thought he was going
to swing on me or something, 'cause he did take
an aggressive stance. With these guys you never know, they could have weapons on them. Every situation like that may
be a life or death situation. There's no room for mistakes. My adrenaline is pumping
pretty, a lot right now. Yeah, so it's, yeah. (chuckles) - Hey D'Angelo. - [D'Angelo] How's it going? - [Officer] You can have a seat. (dramatic music) - [Officer] I just want to
talk to you about the incident. - I kind of like
froze for a second because it was my first incident
like that with an inmate. I feel like I might have
gave him too many chances compared to like
any of you guys. So, I think that's what I
could do differently next time. - What I could have happened
a little differently, if he comes, takes
a step forward, immediately put the hand out, go to your OC spray. Hands on is second. Okay? - Okay, cool, thanks you. The Academy, they told us
how to handle use of force, when you're actually in a
confrontation with an inmate, where your blood is flowing,
you're adrenaline's pumping, it's kind of hard to
do exactly by the book. Since I'm from like a
wrestling background, it's kind of easier for
me to put hands on people. In the heat of the moment, you just kind of revert
to what you know. - Can you just pop
your trunk please? Working traffic wasn't what I thought I was gonna
do working here, but when they say it's
an important post, I do realize that. Can you roll down your window? It's a one-person post. We're pretty much
just looking for any drugs, alcohol, weapons
or any sort of contraband. (dramatic music) I'm nervous because
I'm not sure exactly what to look out for. I've heard stories
about visitors, especially when
they're coming in. The officers find
contraband and weapons and stuff like that. Hello, can you open
your trunk, por favor? When they're going out
we check for bodies, if an inmate is
trying to escape. So you just have to be aware. I don't know who that is. - Junior year of high school, my buddy, my rodeo
partner made this for me. I keep it on my everyday. One day this cross is going
to be something that saves me. This here. (dramatic music) 10-4. Hey, Sgt. Sutton. Hey can you go up front, we got guys messing
around up front. - Master control, I believe we're gonna
need responders. - [Christian] Master Control,
send the A-team responders, 10-32, 10-32, housing unit four. (suspenseful music) - Guys. (yelling) - [Christian] Master control, there's a weapon in
one of the 15's hands. And, Sergeant Sutton, he's got his chemicals
ready to deploy. - [Christian] Master
control be advised, we've got a 15 that is bleeding. - Negative sir, I'm getting
up on the hatch now. (suspenseful music) Put the weapon down. Put the (beep) weapon down. Put the weapon down! Throw the weapon! (shouting) Get back. Get back. Valencia, I swear I'll
shoot you if you don't-- - [Officer] Hey, back up,
down on the ground, back up. - [Christian] Valencia,
get against the fence. - [Officer] Is he putting
the weapon down, put it down. Throw that weapon here. - [Christian] Put the
(beep) weapon down! - If he moves just
shoot his ass. - [Christian] 10-4. - Get the inmates out of there, get him out of there. All of them. (shouting) - [Officer] Let's go. - It's crazy how quick
things can change here. One second we think these
guys are horse playing and next, the guy's stabbed. - A lot of a adrenaline but making sure, making sure my
brothers are out there okay. (chatter) (dramatic music) I could have used with
this less-than-lethal when the inmate wasn't listening to the directive to
push the weapon away, but I had officers
behind that inmate. I wasn't going to
the risk injuring one of my fellow officers. Hey is Sarge alright? - We wait. (dramatic music) - [Andrew] How's
it going Phillip? How do you like being
out on tier time? - [Phillip] Not used to it. - [Andrew] It's a
little awkward, huh? Phillip Latham is dangerous so it's just one
of those things, that you just kind of have to , just be very cautious that's it. You just kind of got
to stay on your toes. - Providing tier time for some of our most
dangerous inmates that re-socialization
places a huge burden on our corrections officers,
especially our young ones. It elevates the risk
for these officers. - [Cohen] How long have
you been at level six? - [Cohen] How many
years was that? - [Andrew] So is
this the first time you been out in six years? - It went really good
for him being out for the first time ever. We just treated him like any other inmate in
general population. We sat him down, talked to him, had a little
conversation with him. We just have to
hope that, you know, won't have no issues with him. (slow dramatic music) - I've been here all day. As a control officer, you're here alone, almost 8 hours. A lot of officers like this post 'cause it's an easy post, you have a lot of
free time, but to me, personally, I don't
really like it here. It's just too quiet. I don't have interaction
with the inmates at all. It would be better
to be in there. Though the inmates
could get use to me so I could be able to
get to know the inmates. Get more hands on, like the
shakedowns and all that. Before becoming a
correction officer, I was working at a grocery
store, as a cashier. It was the same thing everyday. It felt like there was no way
for me to move up in life. Me being put in traffic, it felt the same as when I was
working at the grocery store. I was just stuck. It makes me doubt my decision
to be a correction officer. I want to do more. - Yes, Ma'am. - [Lilly] I wanted to ask
you about my post in traffic. - They will be charged, you
know with the street charges. Whatever he did, you
know the stabbing. - [Christian] Yes, sir. - [Officer] We're gonna
go back into the unit, and we're gonna make sure
that noone else got hurt, noone else got stabbed. - We're going to start moving the inmates back into the
pods, locking them down. We don't want the possibility of another injury or
something else going on. We want to make sure
everything is secure, everything is safe. Everyday that we're here is a possibility of something
like this happening. It's crazy stuff man. Get a good debriefing in and
figure out what we did wrong and what we did right and
if there is a next time, hopefully do it better. (calm music) That'll make you
question your job, make you, make you really
think is this job for you. All the employees here we
came together as a family. It's a great feeling
knowing I have people like that to watch my back. - You did good. - I'll call you
back here on Monday. In a emotional times like this, when it comes down to
something that's real horrible that we have to face, it will
affect you if you allow it to. I am very thankful that
you did a hell of a job. So is everybody else
on the compound. - You guys are all fairly
new to your position. I mean you, less than a year? - Yes, Sir. - Stuff like this, is not stuff that regular
people see everyday. So are you guys okay? I mean up here in the
head, are you guys okay? - You're always going to have the what ifs going
through your head. What if did this,
what if I did that? But now that it's
all done and over, it's more of a sense of relief and a satisfaction
inside knowing that all our officers are safe. That's what matters most to me. Yes, sir. (dramatic music) - [Officer] You ready for
howling when we walk in there? - [D'Angelo] My
adrenaline's pumping bro. Count! (overlapping chatter)
(dramatic music) - I don't know,
you'll hear about it. Can you take off your glasses? When I was doing
count right now, a lot of them were
mouthing off to me a bit. (beeping) Count's not over. (suspenseful music) A lot of these guys are upset 'cause that's one
of their friends. They probably want some payback or want to cause us a
little bit more trouble because of what
happened that incident with that inmate. He wants to get
revenge or whatever. - [D'Angelo] What? - [D'Angelo] You're in
prison, get used to it. - That's cool, get used to it. 23, 39, 45. - Wait, 23? (beeping) - [D'Angelo] Yeah. - The possibility of
gang members retaliating on officers is always there. And when you have the
numbers on your side and people willing
to take action, it's a real threat and we
take that really serious. - [Officer] There's that guy. He keeps talking about
wanting to throw down with all the COs to
make us really work. (suspenseful music) - Me and my partner here heard an inmate in dorm three saying
that they are going to try to fight all of us
now, all the COs. It's a little
stressful right now, but this would probably
be the first time I've felt threatened
by these guys. (radio chatter)
(dramatic music) - In this career, you don't want to
have too much tension 'cause then if
you have bad blood with one person they all get in. That's when the job gets
a little more dangerous. Let's go to the corridor. We're all men here, we should be able to talk man
to man about certain things without our feelings getting
hurt or anything like that. What's up? - [D'Angelo] You know
I don't (beep) around with you guys right? So what happened was,
he, I just pulled him out to talk to him man to man. That's why I pulled
him out, like this. He's been mouthing off, he's been running
around acting like he can do whatever he wants. You know that. So I pulled him
aside and I was like, look man what's your problem? He started cursing,
he started going off, he squared up so
I had to cuff him. That's what happened. - [D'Angelo] He squared up. - That could have
ended up very badly. As a rookie, I'm still learning. I feel like I handled
it pretty well, but dealing with inmates is probably something I
just need to improve on. - Yes, ma'am. - I wanted to ask about
my post in traffic. I'm interested to moving
inside the facility. Like working around the inmates. Learning new things, learning about every
post you have here. - It's great that you
want to get to that. Just remember what
you signed up for and remember what you
learned in the academy. I'll see what I can do as far
as an overtime shift for you. - [Lilly] I do
consider myself tough 'cause not everybody
would do this job. - Gangs are everywhere. With the heightened
gang activity we have in the state right now, with all that's going
on with the SNM, the job just became tougher,
and even more dangerous. - I choose a job where I put
my life on the line everyday. I would like to be there for my brothers and sisters
on the thin blue line. Walking the line behind
the prison facility. - Me and Mangin, I know he has my back
and I have his 110%. I know with him that
I'm going to be able to go home everyday
and not have to worry about getting myself killed. - I'm not afraid of mace,
I'm not afraid of him, he's a CO I can't let him
get in my face like that, you know what I mean? If I make him make
me look stupid, it gets around, I
have to live here. - If you come in and
you do your job everyday as a State Correction
Officer they will retaliate. At some point you
will be assaulted. - After a situation
like that goes down, you realize what's important, it's not about
materialistic things. I feel like my
safety's in jeopardy to where I'm not going
to be able to go home to my daughter time
and time again, you know it ain't worth it. I'm no longer at Western. I kind of figured that
this job wasn't for me. - These individuals we
work with will harm you. Sooner or later you're going
to have to go face your fear. - I find being a CO
way more stressful than any job I ever done. - Do your job and
leave me alone. - You need to walk away. - For what? - [Andrew] My name
is Andrew Martinez. I'm 18 years old. - [Aaron] Why do you
keep moving Martinez? Cadet Martinez, great
kid, good heart, good person but as of right now, he's scared of his own shadow. - [Andrew] I didn't know
there's no such thing as a perfect officer but I
want to be pretty damn close. - [Andrew] It made me look like I didn't know how to do my job. - [Lilly] Today's my first
day working inside a facility. - Woman like that in this kind
of environment you are going to have negative results. Period - [Lilly] I just felt
everybody's eyes on me. - [Inmate] CO, take off
your shirt! - I just want to
get out of there.
