Central New Mexico Correctional Facility reopens “The Farm”

LOS LUNAS — There’s a barbershop, a library and small computer lab. A large tree creates a shady entry into a small chapel, graced with hand-oiled, carved ceiling beams and a hand-made altar beneath a simple cross.

With all the elements of a small town plaza, “The Farm” could be mistaken for anywhere U.S.A. were it not for the hundreds of men in orange jumpsuits and armed correctional officers.

After a nearly five-year closure, “The Farm” — the Level I housing unit at the Central New Mexico Correctional Facility, just south of the village of Los Lunas on N.M. 314 — has come back to life. At just more than 1,000 acres, the farm is one of CNMCF’s more unusual facilities.

The 336 inmates at “The Farm” have earned their way into the Level I unit by taking advantage of the opportunities presented to them while incarcerated, opportunities ranging from parenting classes, earning a GED, getting a commercial driver’s license and just generally “staying out of the mix.”

“When opportunities come your way, when you apply yourself in a positive way,” is how you, as an inmate, get the privilege of living at “The Farm,” says Paul Stonecipher. He, along with all the other inmates living in the unit, have worked to build trust with both the prison administration and correctional officers, and among themselves as well.

As the inmates build trust and relationships with the prison administration, they get the opportunity to participate in clubs and programs they manage themselves, such as Fathers New Mexico and their fitness club.

“We have a lot of trust from the COs and the staff,” said Justin Stone. “We get to run a lot of the programs.”

One that is especially important to Stone is revitalizing the chapel at the facility. He has taken a lead role in not only helping get the chapel itself in shape for the inmates, but is working closely with CNMCF staff to get a “purple” — a chaplain — to oversee the chapel and provide spiritual leadership to those who want it.

Plans to reopen “The Farm” began about a year ago, said New Mexico Corrections Department public information officer Brittany Roembach, with it officially reopening in June of this year.

“‘The Farm’ closed in 2020 due to staffing, and there were not enough inmates housed there to make it make sense to have it open,” Roembach said. “The reopening was driven by a desire to better utilize the unique space for low-security inmates.”

The farm, dedicated in May 1940, was initially 2,000 acres. It’s now 1,010, much of which is still farmed by NMCD’s Corrections Industries Division, producing alfalfa for sale to the public. When the unit was established, the plan was to have it be self-sustaining within four years and provide food for both the inmates at the farm and the penitentiary in Santa Fe.

While the food production didn’t come to fruition, “The Farm” offers educational programming to the hundreds of minimum-security, level one inmates living there, as well as programming for substance abuse prevention, daily living skills, job readiness, vocational classes and support services.

NMCD’s reentry division currently offers more than a dozen vocational programs across all eight state prisons, including the Los Lunas facility, and the privately-operated Otero County Correctional Facility.

“I am immensely proud of the accomplishments of our CNMCF staff, whose dedication and diligence have been instrumental in the reopening of our Level I Facility,” CNMCF Warden Jessica Vigil-Richards said in a June Facebook post celebrating the reopening. “Deputy Warden (Krystal) Rivera, assigned to the CNMCF Level I Facility, has demonstrated exceptional leadership and guidance. It is a true honor to serve as warden at CNMCF and to collaborate with individuals I hold in high regard for their commitment to fostering a safer environment for one another, and for the state of New Mexico.”

Rivera said more than 90% of the inmates in the unit have been given a work assignment, serving as porters for the different parts of the facility. The men are assigned to the library to keep it in order, work as barbers, build and repair furniture for the facility, do laundry and more.

When NMDC decided to reopen the unit, much of the work needed to rehab the facility and get back to habitable condition was done by the inmates themselves, giving them ownership and pride in the property.

From rewiring buildings, to concrete work on the grounds, hanging drywall, painting walls and building furniture, the men at “The Farm” were involved.

Wes Chapman is a contractor who owned his own company before he was incarcerated. He points to the wooden benches lining the covered porches on the main buildings in the unit, the outdoor tables on the grounds and “pretty much anything made from wood.” Those are all his work.

“We take a lot of ownership in the projects,” Chapman said.

Jason Cadena agrees, noting he hung a lot of the drywall, so when he sees guys “acting a fool” and wanting to take out their emotions on a wall, he’s quick to intervene.

In addition to the manual work on the buildings, the men say they have done a lot of work on themselves, preparing for what comes next both in terms of job skills and personal development. Being able to run their own programs and clubs have given them the chance to develop their interpersonal skills and ability to cooperate and contribute to their community.

CNMCF Deputy Warden Krystal Rivera, who oversees “The Farm,” says the inmates there want to “give back to themselves and the community. This is about changing the lifestyle that took them out of their lives and putting them back into the community.”

Stone and Cadena help lead a pre-prosecution program at the facility, which introduces first-time offenders to the prison experience.

“We try to show them what our experiences and choices have led to,” Stone said. “We’ve done a lot of work here and we will leave with something to carry with us. My favorite part is how we’ve come together as a leadership team.”

All four are looking forward to life once their time at “The Farm” is done. When the News-Bulletin visited the facility on Oct. 9, Chapman was getting very “close to the door” with only 23 days until his release. He’s heading to Florida to join his business partner, where they will be buying and flipping hurricane-damaged homes.

During their time in prison, Stone says it may appear inmates don’t have a lot to worry about and few responsibilities, but they are missing out on so much of their lives. For him, it’s his 9-year-old daughter.

“We might not have a lot to worry about now, but ... there’s so much we don’t have,” he said.

As the men rejoin the community, Cadena said the most beneficial approach people can take is to give them a chance and listen to their stories. They are veterans, fathers, skilled tradesmen and probably have more in common with you than you think, he said, adding “we can learn from each other.”

The others emphasized how important it has been for them to take advantage of the opportunities offered to them during their incarceration.

“We’ve done the programs,” Stone said. “We could sit on our bed and do nothing, but we keep progressing forward.”