Sex offenders moving into one prison

CHAPARRAL, N.M. (KRQE) - Hundreds of  sex offenders and other high risk prisoners will soon be transferred to one prison in southern New Mexico.

It's a prison run by a company that's had problems with escapes in the past and KRQE News 13 learned why the move will be taking place.

Nearly 300 prisoners, including serial sex offenders and high risk prisoners, such as former law enforcement officers and informants, will soon be making their way to the Otero County Prison Facility.

New Mexico Department of Corrections officials said the reason behind the move is simple.

"This will allow us to house sex offenders in an open unit where they can receive treatment, education and all those type of things," explained Joe Booker Jr., Deputy Secretary of Operations for the New Mexico Department of Corrections.

Booker said right now these inmates cannot be housed with other people, therefore they remain locked up 23 hours a day. He said that isn't allowing them to get the rehabilitation they need.  

"Some of these guys eventually will be hitting the streets, and we would prefer to have them go into the communities with some treatment so they don't re-offend again," said Booker.

The move will be gradual. Roughly 20 prisoners will be transferred at a time. However, some are questioning the move, because Utah-based Management and Training Corporation operates the prison; the same company who runs the prison in Kingman, Arizona, where John McCluskey, Tracy Province, and a third prisoner escaped in 2010.
 
McCluskey and Province then allegedly went on to murder an Oklahoma couple near Santa Rosa.

But New Mexico officials said they're confident in the security in Otero County.

"We toured the facility, looked at all the security features, and the security features are designed for maximum security type inmates," Booker said.

Booker added, the prison already houses all levels of inmates. Even so, Booker said the situation will be closely monitored, with regular audits.

"It's like this, if they don't meet the needs of our contract towards the security and the program, then we won't do business," said Booker. "But everything up front going in with this you know, they meet the guidelines of what we requested."

Corrections officials said offering these offenders treatment will hopefully give them a better chance of success when they get out. Since many treatment facilities will not accept sex offenders into their programs, much of the prisoners end up spending parole time in jail.

KRQE News 13 reached out to the Utah-based company that operates the prison, but were not able to reach them due to the holiday Monday.