Investigative Report: Corrections Department is a Mess

New Mexico Watchdog - In the past two years, the department has accumulated a long list of real or perceived problems. The department’s problems for years have repeatedly been the subject of news headlines and media investigations.

A facilities manager was convicted of taking bribes. An audit found likely or potential procurement problems that went far beyond the bribes paid to that one facilities manager. In August, a senior parole officer was was indicted for child porn police found on a thumb drive and on his home computer. He claimed his interest was work related. Whistleblowers in the same department last year found threats scrawled on an employee bulletin board. Employees were instructed to falsify records. One probation officer alleges in a lawsuit she was beat up in an on-the-job training class after she complained she was instructed to falsify records. Another’s federal lawsuit alleges sexual discrimination. The director of the Probation and Parole division was suspended for leading employees on an out-of-town excursion to her birthday party in state vehicles. Undocumented and unauthorized use of state vehicles continued nonetheless. Read full story here: News New Mexico

Investigative Report: Corrections Department is a Mess