N.M. Stat. § 33-2-1 (2026)

The corrections division [corrections department] shall adopt such rules concerning
all prisoners committed to the penitentiary as shall best accomplish their confinement
and rehabilitation.

History: 1953 Comp., § 42-1-1.1, enacted by Laws 1955, ch. 149, § 1; 1977, ch. 257, §
62.

                                    ANNOTATIONS

Bracketed material. — The bracketed material was inserted by the compiler and is not
part of the law.

Laws 1980, ch. 150, § 3, renamed the former criminal justice department as the
corrections and criminal rehabilitation department and renamed the former corrections
division within that department as the adult institutions division.

Laws 1981, ch. 73, § 3 and Laws 1981, ch. 127, § 16 renamed the former corrections
and criminal rehabilitation department as the corrections department and retained the
adult institutions division.

Laws 1981, ch. 73, § 4, provided that the chief officer of the corrections department
shall be the secretary of corrections. See 9-3-4 NMSA 1978.

Laws 1981, ch. 73, § 8, provided that, as of March 31, 1981, all references to the
corrections division of the criminal justice department or the corrections and criminal
rehabilitation department shall be construed to be references to the corrections
department. The functions formerly performed by the corrections division are now
performed by various divisions of the corrections department. See 9-3-3 NMSA 1978
and compiler’s notes thereto.
No power to authorize cash awards to employees. — The board of penitentiary
commissioners (now corrections department) does not have authority to itself authorize,
or to delegate to the superintendent (now secretary of corrections) the power to
authorize, meritorious awards to employees by way of cash benefits. 1957 Op. Att'y
Gen. No. 57-21.

No power to authorize cash awards to inmates of penitentiary. — The board of
penitentiary commissioners (now corrections department) does not have authority, nor
may it delegate to the superintendent (now secretary of corrections) the power, to
authorize cash awards to inmates of the penitentiary for exceptionally outstanding acts
of benefit to other inmates, employees of the penitentiary, or of general benefit to the
state. 1957 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 57-21.

Law reviews. — For note and comment, “The Constitutionality of Faith-Based Prison
Programs: A Real World Analysis Based in New Mexico”, see 37 N.M. L. Rev. 487
(2007).

Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — State regulation of conjugal or overnight
familial visits in penal or correctional institutions, 29 A.L.R.4th 1216.

Validity and construction of prison regulation of inmates' possession of personal
property, 66 A.L.R.4th 800.

State prisoner's right to personally appear at civil trial to which he is a party - state court
cases, 82 A.L.R.4th 1063.

Validity, construction, and application of state statute requiring inmate to reimburse
government for expense of incarceration, 13 A.L.R.5th 872.

Constitutional right of prisoners to abortion services and facilities - federal cases, 90
A.L.R. Fed. 683.