N.M. Stat. § 31-5-17 (2026)

The Interstate Corrections Compact is enacted into law and entered into by New
Mexico with any other states legally joining therein in the form substantially as follows:

                               Article 1. Purpose and Policy

    The party states, desiring by common action to fully utilize and improve their
institutional facilities and provide adequate programs for the confinement, treatment and
rehabilitation of various types of offenders, declare that it is the policy of each of the
party states to provide such facilities and programs on a basis of cooperation with one
another, thereby serving the best interests of such offenders and of society and
effecting economies in capital expenditures and operational costs. The purpose of this
compact is to provide for the mutual development and execution of such programs of
cooperation for the confinement, treatment and rehabilitation of offenders with the most
economical use of human and material resources.

                                    Article 2. Definitions

   As used in this compact, unless the context clearly requires otherwise:

    A. "state" means a state of the United States, the United States of America, a
territory or possession of the United States, the District of Columbia or the
commonwealth of Puerto Rico;

   B. "sending state" means a state party to this compact in which conviction or court
commitment was had;

    C. "receiving state" means a state party to this compact to which an inmate is sent
for confinement other than a state in which conviction or court commitment was had;

    D. "inmate" means a male or female offender who is committed under sentence to
or confined in a penal or correctional institution; and

    E. "institution" means any penal or correctional facility, including but not limited to a
facility for the mentally ill or mentally defective, in which inmates may lawfully be
confined.

                                    Article 3. Contracts
    A. Each party state may make one or more contracts with any one or more of the
other party states for the confinement of inmates on behalf of a sending state in
institutions situated within receiving states. Any such contract shall provide for:

       (1)    its duration;

        (2)    payments to be made to the receiving state by the sending state for
inmate maintenance, extraordinary medical and dental expenses, and any participation
in or receipt by inmates of rehabilitative or correctional services, facilities, programs or
treatment not reasonably included as part of normal maintenance;

        (3)   participation in programs of inmate employment, if any; the disposition or
crediting of any payments received by inmates on account thereof; and the crediting of
proceeds from or disposal of any products resulting therefrom;

       (4)    delivery and retaking of inmates; and

       (5)     such other matters as may be necessary and appropriate to fix the
obligations, responsibilities and rights of the sending and receiving states.

    B. The terms and provisions of this compact shall be a part of any contract entered
into by the authority of or pursuant thereto, and nothing in any such contract shall be
inconsistent therewith.

                              Article 4. Procedures and Rights

    A. Whenever the duly constituted authorities in a state party to this compact, and
which has entered into a contract pursuant to Article 3, shall decide that confinement in,
or transfer of an inmate to, an institution within the territory of another party state is
necessary or desirable in order to provide adequate quarters and care or an appropriate
program of rehabilitation or treatment, said officials may direct that the confinement be
within an institution within the territory of said other party state, the receiving state to act
in that regard solely as agent for the sending state.

     B. The appropriate officials of any state party to this compact shall have access, at
all reasonable times, to any institution in which it has a contractual right to confine
inmates for the purpose of inspecting the facilities thereof and visiting such of its
inmates as may be confined in the institution.

     C. Inmates confined in an institution pursuant to the terms of this compact shall at
all times be subject to the jurisdiction of the sending state and may at any time be
removed therefrom for transfer to a prison or other institution within the sending state,
for transfer to another institution in which the sending state may have a contractual or
other right to confine inmates, for release on probation or parole, for discharge, or for
any other purpose permitted by the laws of the sending state; provided that the sending
state shall continue to be obligated to such payments as may be required pursuant to
the terms of any contract entered into under the terms of Article 3.

    D. Each receiving state shall provide regular reports to each sending state on the
inmates of that sending state in institutions pursuant to this compact including a conduct
record of each inmate and certify said record to the official designated by the sending
state, in order that each inmate may have official review of his or her record in
determining and altering the disposition of said inmate in accordance with the law which
may obtain in the sending state and in order that the same may be a source of
information for the sending state.

    E. All inmates who may be confined in an institution pursuant to the provisions of
this compact shall be treated in a reasonable and humane manner and shall be treated
equally with such similar inmates of the receiving state as may be confined in the same
institution. The fact of confinement in a receiving state shall not deprive any inmate so
confined of any legal rights which said inmate would have had if confined in an
appropriate institution of the sending state.

    F. Any hearing or hearings to which an inmate confined pursuant to this compact
may be entitled by the laws of the sending state may be had before the appropriate
authorities of the sending state, or of the receiving state if authorized by the sending
state. The receiving state shall provide adequate facilities for such hearings as may be
conducted by the appropriate officials of a sending state. In the event such hearing or
hearings are had before officials of the receiving state, the governing law shall be that of
the sending state and a record of the hearing or hearings as prescribed by the sending
state shall be made. Said record together with any recommendations of the hearing
officials shall be transmitted forthwith to the official or officials before whom the hearing
would have been had if it had taken place in the sending state. In any and all
proceedings had pursuant to the provisions of this subdivision, the officials of the
receiving state shall act solely as agents of the sending state and no final determination
shall be made in any matter except by the appropriate officials of the sending state.

    G. Any inmate confined pursuant to this compact shall be released within the
territory of the sending state unless the inmate, and the sending and receiving states,
shall agree upon release in some other place. The sending state shall bear the cost of
such return to its territory.

    H. Any inmate confined pursuant to the terms of this compact shall have any and all
rights to participate in and derive any benefits or incur or be relieved of any obligations
or have such obligations modified or his status changed on account of any action or
proceeding in which he could have participated if confined in any appropriate institution
of the sending state located within such state.

    I. The parent, guardian, trustee or other person or persons entitled under the laws
of the sending state to act for, advise or otherwise function with respect to any inmate
shall not be deprived of or restricted in his exercise of any power in respect of any
inmate confined pursuant to the terms of this compact.

              Article 5. Acts Not Reviewable in Receiving State: Extradition

    A. Any decision of the sending state in respect of any matter over which it retains
jurisdiction pursuant to this compact shall be conclusive upon and not reviewable within
the receiving state, but if at the time the sending state seeks to remove an inmate from
an institution in the receiving state there is pending against the inmate within such state
any criminal charge or if the inmate is formally accused of having committed within such
state a criminal offense, the inmate shall not be returned without the consent of the
receiving state until discharged from prosecution or other form of proceeding,
imprisonment or detention for such offense. The duly accredited officers of the sending
state shall be permitted to transport inmates pursuant to this compact through any and
all states party to this compact without interference.

    B. An inmate who escapes from an institution in which he is confined pursuant to
this compact shall be deemed a fugitive from the sending state and from the state in
which the institution is situated. In the case of an escape to a jurisdiction other than the
sending or receiving state, the responsibility for institution of extradition or rendition
proceedings shall be that of the sending state, but nothing contained herein shall be
construed to prevent or affect the activities of officers and agencies of any jurisdiction
directed toward the apprehension and return of an escapee.

                                   Article 6. Federal Aid

    Any state party to this compact may accept federal aid for use in connection with any
institution or program, the use of which is or may be affected by this compact or any
contract pursuant hereto and any inmate in a receiving state pursuant to this compact
may participate in any such federally aided program or activity for which the sending
and receiving states have made contractual provision, provided that if such program or
activity is not part of the customary correctional regimen, the express consent of the
appropriate official of the sending state shall be required therefor.

                                 Article 7. Entry into Force

    This compact shall enter into force and become effective and binding upon the
states so acting when it has been enacted into law by any two states. Thereafter, this
compact shall enter into force and become effective and binding as to any other of said
states upon similar action by such state.

                          Article 8. Withdrawal and Termination

    This compact shall continue in force and remain binding upon a party state until it
shall have enacted a statute repealing the same and providing for the sending of formal
written notice of withdrawal from the compact to the appropriate officials of all other
party states. An actual withdrawal shall not take effect until one year after the notices
provided in said statute have been sent. Such withdrawal shall not relieve the
withdrawing state from its obligations assumed hereunder prior to the effective date of
withdrawal. Before the effective date of withdrawal, a withdrawing state shall remove to
its territory, at its own expense, such inmates as it may have confined pursuant to the
provisions of this compact.

                        Article 9. Other Arrangements Unaffected

   Nothing contained in this compact shall be construed to abrogate or impair any
agreement or other arrangement which a party state may have with a nonparty state for
the confinement, rehabilitation or treatment of inmates nor to repeal any other laws of a
party state authorizing the making of cooperative institutional arrangements.

                         Article 10. Construction and Severability

    The provisions of this compact shall be liberally construed and shall be severable. If
any phrase, clause, sentence or provision of this compact is declared to be contrary to
the constitution of any participating state or of the United States or the applicability
thereof to any government, agency, person or circumstance is held invalid, the validity
of the remainder of this compact and the applicability thereof to any government,
agency, person or circumstance shall not be affected thereby. If this compact shall be
held contrary to the constitution of any state participating therein, the compact shall
remain in full force and effect as to the remaining states and in full force and effect as to
the state affected as to all severable matters.

History: Laws 1982, ch. 56, § 1.