The employees of the penitentiary shall perform such duties in the charge and oversight of the penitentiary, care of the property belonging thereto, and in the custody, government, employment and discipline of the convicts as shall be required of them by the corrections division [corrections department] or the warden, in conformity with law and rules and regulations prescribed for the government of the penitentiary.
History: 1953 Comp., § 42-1-25.1, enacted by Laws 1955, ch. 151, § 2; 1977, ch. 257, § 71.
ANNOTATIONSBracketed material. — The bracketed material was inserted by the compiler and is not part of the law.
See compiler's notes to 33-2-1 NMSA 1978.
Prison guards in the department of corrections are not law enforcement officers for purposes of 41-4-3D NMSA 1978, because: (1) the principal duties of prison guards are to hold in custody persons who have already been convicted rather than merely accused of a criminal offense; (2) maintenance of public order relates to a public not a penitentiary setting; and (3) although prison guards may have the supplemental power to arrest pursuant to the guidelines of 33-1-10 NMSA 1978, their principal statutory duties are those set forth in this section. Callaway v. N.M. Dep't of Corr., 1994-NMCA-049, 117 N.M. 637, 875 P.2d 393, cert. denied, 118 N.M. 90, 879 P.2d 91.