In 1980, a single open door triggered the deadliest prison riot in U.S. history. Hostages, revenge killings, and utter chaos - this is the horrifying story of Old Main.

This week on Everyday Injustice, host David Greenwald sits down with author Andrew Brininstool, whose forthcoming book High Desert Blood revisits the 1980 New Mexico Prison Riot—one of the deadliest ...

This is the kind of stuff you see in movies. Over a 36 hour period, inmates took control of a New Mexico prison, holding guards hostage and killing ... each other. During an early morning inmate count ...

In 1980, Gary Nelson, a convicted bank robber, escaped from another state prison. When police caught him in New Mexico, prison officials held him in Cell Block Two in Old Main.

Many people in New Mexico remember Saenz as the state Corrections secretary at the time of the 1980 riot at the Penitentiary of New Mexico, south of Santa Fe — still regarded as the country's ...

Dec. 31—The difference between government agent James Bond and government agent Adolph Saenz is that Saenz was the real deal. Many people in New Mexico remember Saenz as the state Corrections ...

About half of them remain in custody and others are now on parole. New Mexico’s history includes one of the nation’s deadliest prison riots, when a dozen guards were held hostage in February 1980.

SNM formed in the aftermath of the brutal 1980 prison riot at the Penitentiary of New Mexico, which maintains its infamous status as the most brutal prison riot in U.S. history.

His case later became known as the Duran Consent Decree when the federal court assumed control over the New Mexico prison system for many years after the 1980 riot.