A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE CORRECTIONS DEPARTMENT TO EXAMINE THE NEED TO EXPAND THE GUADALUPE COUNTY CORRECTIONAL FACILITY.

     WHEREAS, the state's correctional system is a key component of the state's public safety strategy, separating violent offenders from law-abiding residents and offering valuable programs to rehabilitate offenders prior to their release; and

     WHEREAS, the state has ambitiously worked to expand the capacity of its prison system to safely accommodate an

ever-growing inmate population by contracting with private prison operators and housing inmates out of state; and

     WHEREAS, despite the recent expansions in prison capacity, New Mexico's prison system is once again nearing its capacity for male inmates, creating a potentially dangerous and unmanageable situation; and

     WHEREAS, the privately owned and operated Guadalupe county correctional facility, with a capacity for six hundred inmates and an actual population near that number, is located conveniently along interstate 40, which makes the transportation of inmates, delivery of supplies and visitation of inmates' family members relatively easy; and

     WHEREAS, the Guadalupe county correctional facility is a modern correctional facility and was designed to be expanded relatively easily;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the corrections department be requested to examine the need for, feasibility of and other issues regarding the possible expansion of the Guadalupe county correctional facility by fifty-two cells to accommodate an additional one hundred four inmates; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the corrections department report its findings and recommendations, if any, to the first session of the forty-eighth legislature and provide two copies of the report to the legislative council service library; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this memorial be transmitted to the secretary of corrections.