New Mexico is on the cusp of finalizing prison takeovers that will reduce private prison operations to 25% of inmate beds, amid a plunge in prison population numbers statewide.
Corrections Secretary Alisha Tafoya Lucero briefed a panel of state lawmakers Wednesday on negotiations by her agency to take over day-to-day prison operations from CoreCivic at the 744-bed Northwest New Mexico Correctional Center in Grants, and from GEO Group at the 590-bed Guadalupe County Correctional Facility at Santa Rosa in southern New Mexico.