Feds crack down on private New Mexico prison 'awash' in drugs

Illegal drugs are big business inside New Mexico’s primary federal detention center 70 miles west of Albuquerque. The prices are exorbitant, with inmates reporting leaving the private facility with more than $50,000 in their accounts from illegal drug sales.

So pervasive is the problem that two inmates and three correctional officers were rushed to the hospital after overdosing on May 29, states a 116-page FBI affidavit unsealed late last week. So far this year, the number of drug overdoses at the facility in Milan is seven, all non-fatal, compared with one in 2023.

Even criminal defendants appearing before federal judges in Albuquerque “were complaining that Cibola County Correctional Center (CCCC) was awash in drugs,” U.S. Attorney for New Mexico Alexander Uballez said on Friday. Federal judges also expressed concerns about the unsafe conditions.

On Friday, a federal criminal investigation into drug trafficking at the facility came to light. Days earlier, the FBI and U.S. Marshals Service executed searches of 13 different residences in Albuquerque and elsewhere that focused on at least 15 suspects. Meanwhile, CCCC officers conducted searches inside the correctional center. Nine people have been charged with federal crimes, and three are facing state charges in the ongoing investigation, Uballez said. None so far have been correctional officers.

“We were targeting a large number of federal inmates,” Uballez said at a news conference. “When folks are incarcerated, they’re truly in our care. We are responsible for the control of drugs there. We want to harden our efforts on the CCCC itself.”

The facility is run by CoreCivic, one of the largest prison operators in the country. It houses more than 750 inmates, of which about 440 are federal inmates awaiting sentencing, trial or transport to the Bureau of Prisons to serve their sentences.

Drugs, clandestine weapons and other contraband are commonplace inside jails and prisons in the U.S., the FBI says.

But “in recent years, investigators have noticed a startling anomaly at CCCC: the sheer volume of controlled substances being trafficked within the facility,” states the affidavit.

During recent searches, for example, correctional officers located a pound of methamphetamine in one pod, more than 1,000 fentanyl pills in another pod, one half pound of methamphetamine in another, and several ounces of heroin.

“The quantities of drugs seized are exceptionally large, given that they are located within a secure federal facility,” states the affidavit. A pound of methamphetamine can cost $272,400 in the CCCC; on the streets of Albuquerque, it would sell for as low as $1,000.

Inside CCCC, contraband cellphones sell for up to $2,000 and are an integral part of the illicit drug trade. The phones not only allow the user to conduct drug trafficking activities unmonitored, but also enable users to send and receive money via cellphone apps such as CashApp, which is the most common financial app used by CCCC inmates, the affidavit states.

“Although drug dealing takes place inside the facility, most of the money is exchanged on the outside. Profits go to dealers’ spouses, families, associates, or simply accumulate until the dealer is released from custody. Everyone in the distribution network gets compensated, whether with money, drugs, commissary, stamps or just prestige.” Investigators also found correctional officers who received trucks or a recreational vehicle for their participation in the conspiracy, it states.

“The high prices are reflective of the substances being illegal, difficult to introduce into secure facilities, and the high demand for drugs,” the affidavit states. “Isolation, boredom, stress and the simple fact that a portion of the jail/prison population is comprised mostly of addicts all contribute to the popularity of drugs on the inside.”

With that in mind, Uballez said federal authorities are taking a comprehensive approach to the problem, enhancing technology to screen for drugs and “treating opioid use disorder with medical care for federal detainees while in custody.”

A spokesman for CoreCivic, based in Brentwood, Tennessee, wouldn’t say on Friday whether correctional officers involved in the trafficking have been identified and terminated, citing the ongoing investigation.

“At CoreCivic, the safety of our staff and those individuals entrusted to our care is our top priority. We have a zero-tolerance policy for the introduction of contraband into our facilities,” the spokesman said.

He added: “We are grateful for the investigative efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (Violent Gang Task Force) and the U.S. Marshals Service in conjunction with the support of the United States Attorney’s Office (District of New Mexico), New Mexico State Police, Cibola County Sheriff’s Office, Milan Police Department and Grants Police Department, and we share their commitment to keeping everyone safe.”

The investigation

Relying on information from past investigations, phone records, surveillance and more than 40 confidential informants, the FBI’s Violent Gang Task Force teamed up with the U.S. Marshals Service and the CoreCivic Intelligence Unit in early September to find out more.

“Our investigative efforts yielded information on not only the most prolific and problematic drug dealers at CCCC, but we have also identified the most successful methods in which the drugs are smuggled into the facility,” the affidavit said.

Agents learned of drug distribution schemes that involved inmates, correctional officers, and suppliers on the outside who were inmates’ associates, wives or girlfriends.

Though contraband and narcotics have been delivered in traditional ways, like through legal mail, inmates and their accomplices have deployed another method specific to the location of the secure private facility.

It’s been as simple as throwing the contraband into the facility’s recreation yard from a nearby ravine, or from a public parking lot near a truck stop that sits next to the correctional center. Officers routinely find drug packages in the recreation yard, the affidavit states.

From the outside, runners use slingshots “throw handballs, or packages concealing methamphetamine over the fence into the yard,” the affidavit states.

In August, for example, federal inmate Lupe Vargas allegedly hatched a plan with his wife, Monalisa Vargas, in which she would use a fishing rod to hurl a package of methamphetamine and other contraband over the prison fence. Lupe Vargas allegedly planned to pull the fishing line and contraband into his cell. According to intercepted phone calls, he told her to tape the package up “really good and attach a string to it so he could pull it in.”

So in the early morning darkness on Aug. 10, Monalisa Vargas and her brother, Michael Garcia, went to the public parking area her inmate-husband guided them to. But once there, she voiced concerns about a nearby vehicle that might be conducting surveillance. And Garcia didn’t want to use a fishing rod, the affidavit states. Meanwhile, inside the prison, “Lupe Vargas was conversing with other inmates in or around his cell and the inmates commented that they (the inmates) could see Garcia and Monalisa Vargas outside.”

“Shortly thereafter the inmates sounded surprised and exclaimed they had ‘thrown the package the wrong way!’ Inmates could be heard cursing and they (Monalisa and Garcia) had thrown the package all the way to the right. Lupe then became very upset.” The package could be seen bouncing on the ground inside the fence line. It landed where inmates couldn’t reach it and was eventually recovered by correctional officers.

A federal grand jury in October indicted the Vargases, Garcia and inmate Edward Vallez on charges that included conspiracy and attempting to provide or obtain prohibited objects in a correctional facility.

Inmates headed to the CCCC have also smuggled drugs in their body cavities, while others would deliberately violate their probation or supervised release to gain entrance into the facility and deliver contraband.

Agents found a dealer-inmate who would bring back a new stash of drugs to the CCCC every time he was transported from the correctional center to dialysis treatments. The affidavit also focused on several correctional officers, including one woman who was romantically involved with two inmates and used 25 cellphones and 17 alias names to smuggle drugs inside. She was fired.

Even prison kitchen workers were known to place drugs on food trays destined for a pod of inmates, the affidavit states.

It wasn’t clear on Friday how many correctional employees might be in on the drug trafficking.

For each package of drugs a correctional officer delivers, the inmates may pay him or her from $3,000 to $6,000, the affidavit states. At an annual starting salary of less than $48,000 a year with CCCC, “a CO who imports three packages a week, every week,” could make more money in one month than his or her yearly CCCC salary, the affidavit states.

The FBI cited the case of a correctional center captain who was accused by several informants of importing drugs into the facility. They related that he purchased a new Ram truck with the drug proceeds. The supervisor was suspected of helping drug dealing inmates in a physical attack on one of his officers who had recovered methamphetamine from their cell. Ultimately, he was terminated by CCCC.

“Those who seek to profit from addiction and vulnerability of detainees not only violate the law,” Uballez said on Friday, “but perpetuate a cycle of harm that extends beyond prison walls.”